Lithium
by NotKim
Summary: AU. I can't write summarys, but the story's good! READ! GaaXOC Started Again! Chapter 19 up!
1. Chapter 1

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Lithium

Chapter 1

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He was someone that was important to his work. Someone that needed to always be there so that things ran right, and the way that he wanted it. He wanted them to be perfectly done… But now, nothing was going his way and this particular male was furious to a point where he wanted to slaughter each and every one of them, slowly and painfully. He wanted to watch as their blood dripped off his hands and onto the ground, the way it sounded as he feet moved through the blood that was on the carpet, making a squishing noise as he did so. But alas, it wouldn't come true. He couldn't do that to the people that were working under him - he had to be… responsible. This was his inheritance from his god-forsaken father.

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She, was only someone of less importance, someone that didn't seem to make all the difference in the world; but brought much joy to the people surrounding her. She was one that was always happy, but held secret that were too hard to share, ones that would cause her to go into hiding, and become what she didn't want. The small work place she stayed at was one that wasn't really visited all that much; but had good enough business during the holiday season.

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Jade eyes glanced around the rather large office, large glass window's directly behind him, showing him that of the street underneath the building and the west side of the city, large buildings scattering themselves around in random places. New papers blew acrossed the window causing the red head to turn his head to watch as the paper flew past the window, dancing a small dance, as if it was free. Free from something he could never get away from.

The sound of the phone's ringing outside of the office caught the males attention, then the shattering of glass. Slowly, the male stood up, standing clearly at 6'1". Broad shoulders adjacent to his body. His office clothes, which he didn't really abide by the 'rules', hung off him loosely, as if the clothes were too big for him - but fit him all the same. His black jacket hung open, no tie in sight because it never did fit with him. His white shirt was undone down 5 buttons, open so his chest was a little bit seen. Black dress pants, baggie, and black shoes. He obviously wasn't one for dressing all… 'Good-mannered' like. It annoyed him.

Maneuvering himself around the pine-wood desk, his hand cupped around the doorknob to the glass door, turning it slightly so that the sound of a small 'click' was heard before pushing it forwards and walking out the door and into another large room, filled with cuticles and whatnot. People scattered around, trying to get paperwork finished and answering phones. It was a hectic day to say the least.

His building, his work, his inheritance. This building was the very thing that kept him here, alive in this world. He wasn't all hell-bent on trying to kill himself, but he was irritate with life - the way it was thrown at him and the way it was ending very slowly. The way he killed his very own mother at birth, the way his father disowned him, and left him to do whatever it was he wanted. The way his siblings had feared the youngest until only recently; after his father died due to being involved in a gang shoot-out on the east side.

He hated it. Hated it all. His life was only black and gray, and never will he see his life in color. There was no point in it. Of course, his older brother, Kankuro, had told him to get a girlfriend, settle down and get married, which would inevitably lead to children; and he didn't want that. Not now. Temari, though, had said the same thing. As a sister, she was concerned for her younger brothers, but not for him. Why would she care for the thing she feared when they were all younger? No one cared for him… Who'd care for someone who thrives off darkness? No One.

Demonic was something that people seemed to call him. Someone who worships the devil on his spare time, probably cutting his wrists to take away the pain. The male shook his head, fiery red hair moving back and forth, before stopping. Black-rimmed eyes closed for a moment, letting everyone and everything, slowly vanish away, to make him think clearly. But he always had a voice in the back of his mind - like a demon waiting to emerge at a certain time.

"Gaara-sama!" The voice, obviously carried by a female employee, shouted in his face. Arms holding stacks of papers, some begging to fall off the pile she was carrying. She was someone that everyone referred to as 'the whore of the company'. Apparently, she had slept around with every other male employee other than a few; one being Gaara.

Black-rimmed eyes opened, and jade eyes glared at the smaller female in front of him. Her face was covered in way much make-up. It looked as though she was literally wearing 5 layers of make-up. Her face, wasn't all pretty to look at, considering that her lips were covered in a bright pink lipstick, dark blue eye shadow and clumpy mascara. He never knew why men dropped themselves before her… How could they fall for this tramp?

"Gaara-sama. Here's the documents you asked for! Oh, and please, read this." The female smiled, trying to act seductive in her words, which made no impact on the 23 year old man. Gaara's hand reached out, taking the beige folder, that seemed to hold nothing but air and place it under his arm casually. Head turning, the female's lips turned into a smile, before winking at him and walking away; hips swaying as if she was going to dislocate them out of her hips. Oh, if only.

Eyes closed once again, getting the image of 'Tasha - as some people called her - out of his mind. He didn't need no other thing plaguing his mind and wanting him to go more insane than he already was. It was too late in the day to start caring, and manage to get a headache, just from one encounter of her. Life was too cruel on him.

His business was enough to cause anyone of his position to go crazy in a matter of days, quit and find another job or actually ended up in the nut-house. Of course, through movies and whatever, his job seemed to be the best thing to do - Boss people around, sit there and be lazy, letting everyone else work for you… No, that wasn't what It truly was. It was worse. You had flirty females, a couple of gay guys hitting on you, people getting into fights over the phones, making them lose clients and/or try and get sued. Firing people and having to put up with tears and yelling at the top of their lungs. Then you had competition with other companies to try and stay up above them as best as you could.

Glancing once more around the office, he could see many of the employee start to take their leave for the night. Turning around, he walked right back into his little.. 'haven' in a way. Door opening, he walked over to his desk and sat down in a large leather chair. Eyes absently running over the black words over the clear door.

'**Chairman Sabaku no Gaara**'

Chairman of the largest, thriving business places in the world. It was borderline Economics, stock-exchange and Human resources. It was a complicating business, and you needed a lot of knowledge to run and manage this business. Of course, there was only one in this city, and country; hence it being large and busy.

Letting his thoughts trail back to him, he let his right hand move to the folder the woman gave him, as well as the small letter that was slipped into his pocket. Letting the folder hit his desk with a 'smack', he opened the piece of paper, eyes scanning over the contents…

To Gaara-sama,

Hey! Me and a couple of my girlfriend are going out tonight… To have a little… fun.

We wanna know if you want to come! It'll be fun, I promise! It'll be a bonding type thing and we can get to know each other.

It'll be at the bar on 29th street, the one called 'Exotic Flavors'. you know the place, right?

Well, anyways, we'll be there around 9:30 tonight at the bar. Hope to see you there!

Love,

'Tasha. 3 3 3**(1)**

She couldn't be serious, could she? Asking him, to go to a bar… on 29th street? How much of a whore could she be? 29th street was notorious for the hookers, sluts, tramps, whatever you could think of that affiliated with whores, was there. Pimps, drugs and random shootings were lively down in that part as well. Gaara remembered what his brother had called the place.. 'Ghetto' a place where most black people lived (A/n: I'm not racist. So don't worry I have nothing against people. If I do, I voice it.) and the gangs ruled down there.

Usually, anyone who lived there, were mostly poor, or the rarity of having good jobs, but still living there anyways. A soft, barely audible sigh escaped the 23 year old's lips. He'd have to go there; there was no way he was going to put up with a female ranting on him for not going.

Tonight was going to be a long night…

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Tri-colored eyes glanced around the small shop and outside the window. Own reflection staring back at the small female. She stood at about 5'4", very short for her age; but she didn't really care. Long dark blue hair shimmered lightly in the limited amount of light was in the small store she owned. She wasn't one for much class, seeing as how she didn't have enough money to get anything very good for herself, other than an apartment building, which was slowly starting to fall apart, and the occasional rodent problem that seemed to arise as of late.

Turning around slowly, she looked around the small store. Just a small music store that held everything from Rap to Opera and everything in between. Bins littered themselves in the middle of the store, on the sides and up against the barred windows. Of course, usually barred windows would mean that this store had been broken into once before, and sometimes kept people at bay, knowing that it was already done.. There was no way she wanted to be robbed. She was usually the only one in the store during the weeks, and a friend coming in during the weekends - who eventually drags her into helping her. Which meant 7 day week.

This didn't go unchecked. Working from 6 in the morning till 9 at night, everyday took a large toll on the small woman. She never really did get enough sleep. Usually about 3 each night, which dragged her down each morning, but she managed to keep her job still going, and greet people like she always did.

Pink lips formed into a smile, as the females eyes turned to shift towards the door, a small bell indicating that someone was entering. A couple of gangsters, as she had come to known very well, always looking for the same Cd's and whatnot.

"Hey boys. I'm sorry but Ja Rule isn't in yet. I'm still trying to get them to order it." She could see one of the male snap his fingers, grunting lightly before crossing his arms over his chest, his 'bling' being hidden by the large puffy black jacket.

"Yo, Whaddup Tsuyahra? We be chillin in da hood, and we have been waitin' foreva for dat Cd, Yo!" The bigger male, she had come to known as Darious, turned his ball cap around. Which, to her signaled as if something was going to happen.

"I know Darious, but like I've said, I've called in a order. It'll probably be a week or 2 at the most. Alright boys?"

That earned her a grunt, the smaller male turning and leaving the store, standing in front of the door as if he was a bouncer. The older male smiled darkly, walking over to her, using his right hand to pull out a 9 millimeter pistol and holding it to the females face, causing her to stiffen and look at the gun as if she was going to die. Her eyes widened. Darious pushed her back against a wall, slamming her into it like she was a rag doll. His breath was hot on her face, the cold barrel of the gun on her cheek and moving farther into her face.

White teeth was shown before her eyes, his black skin causing his teeth to show more. Of course, she knew right off these two were Gangsters when they walked into her store, and she had absolutely no problem with them, and never discriminated against white, nor black people, Asian or natives. Everyone was people, no matter what they did in their lives to cause themselves to have a title.

"Listen. I wont kill ya. But to let ya know. I get what I want.." His voice was dropped to that of a normal speaking without the slang. It made him sound all the more better than the acting he used. "If it's not here soon, I promise I'll kill you."

Killing over a Cd. Something that wasn't really common, but it happened anyways. Suddenly, she felt the barrel of the gun move away from her face, before something hard came into contact with the side of her face, causing her head to turn with the impact, creating a sicking 'crack' before falling into the darkness of oblivion.

As the female was knocked out, due to this Darious pistol whipping her in the face with the back of the gun, he watched as her body moved at the impact and hit the wall, knocking her head against it hard. The male laughed lightly, putting the gun back into his baggie pants and grabbing her shoulders, dragging her out of the store and onto the sidewalks. The darkness slightly hiding her body against the building.

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R i d 3 r: Another story, another AU… that'll hopefully be better than the whole high school thing. I'm debating on taking it down or not. Anyways, this was something I've had stuck in my head for a while now, and need to write it up so it would stop poking me. Yeah. Anyways, review please, and tell me what you think.

(1)-- Those are hearts, if you didn't notice. I kinda had to.. Put it there? I don't know. But yeah.


	2. Chapter 2

**Lithium**

**Chapter 2**

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Re-cap

…As the female was knocked out, due to this Darious pistol whipping her in the face with the back of the gun, he watched as her body moved at the impact and hit the wall, knocking her head against it hard. The male laughed lightly, putting the gun back into his baggie pants and grabbing her shoulders, dragging her out of the store and onto the sidewalks. The darkness slightly hiding her body against the building.

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His footsteps, light as he moved through the streets of the Ghetto. He could have taken his car, but this street wasn't too far away from the office that he hated so much. Jade eyes glared at every other female that dared to look at him with fake lust and desire in their eyes; Hair matted to their face, clothes dirty and far to short for them.

Cars drove by, some usually honking their horns, or calling the females over to their passenger window, exchanging money value of certain things they wanted. How could a male want a prostitute for.. 'pleasure' when they could very well carry any disease? Of course, Gaara wasn't new to sex, nor the pleasure of it; he had many females in his life, during his teen years; some of the most reckless years he had ever had, until he got more mature with his decisions.

He'd usually bring home a woman, glare at his older siblings and bring her up to his room, locking the door and fucking them senseless, only to kick them out when the awoke from their stupor. Gaara, when he was younger, had been a very fast moving man. He had a girl for every week, just to satisfy himself - but it usually never helped him achieve that certain pleasure most people had.

Lack of love between the one he fucked? He didn't know then, and he still didn't know now. Though, he grew out of it rather quickly once his father died, and became the young mature man he was now. Raising his watch and moving the dark jacket away from the Rolex watch he was wearing, he could see it was about 9:35. He wasn't all that late, plus, he could pick out 'Tasha very easily. She'd probably be on the dance floor, drink in hand and dancing with the females she said she was bringing.

A couple of people walked past him, eyeing his clothes, immediately saying to each other that they should jump him. It was sad when people thought they could randomly take out someone who looked rich. Well, Gaara was rich in a way; he made enough money to last him the rest of his life, Though because he had a bad life when he was younger, he got into many, many fights. He'd actually went underground and joined and illegal bare-knuckle fighting competition.

He hadn't won when he first went there; he actually got beat down pretty bad, but as the years went on, and the more he participated the better he got and he managed to win the tournaments from when he was 14 to 17 years old, before quitting. The movement of something near a small business named 'Lithium' - Which, to Gaara, seemed odd for a store to be named after something on the periodic table. The sound of a can moving slightly, before falling over, revealing a small female, managing to push herself up onto her knee's, using her hands to help her as well.

She was apparently having a problem with standing up; her hair covered her face, so he couldn't take a look at who it was - not that he cared at all. Slowly, his own feet came to a stop on their own, his body slightly hidden by the lack of light in the area; His jade eyes lightly illuminated by the full moon looming over the area.

A soft grunt came from the female's mouth, trying to grasp the brick wall beside her. She managed to get up, throwing herself against the bricks, right hand moving to her face; shoulders wincing as skin came into contact with skin. Shoulders started to shudder, as her head raised, hair brushing out of her face, reveling a dark blue spot on her cheek, near her jaw line, indicating her jaw was obviously broken in that place. The thing that caught him off-guard slightly, was that she wasn't crying.

Anyone who had broken a bone, would cry, depending on what type of person they were. This female now caught some interest in him. Something sparking in his chest, the voice in the back of his mind telling him to move forwards and help the woman. But that wasn't Gaara. Gaara was a cold person, he didn't care, and he only loved himself.

"…Shit." Her voice was low, but enough to be heard, even if it was slightly slurred. Her body tensed, indicating it hurt when she moved her mouth - which would have been obvious.

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Opening her eyes, she looked around, trying to figure out exactly where she was. She could see silver, and black plastic, finally, she realized where she was. She was in front of her store, behind the garbage cans. But how did she even get here? Eyes widening, she remembered Darious' gun pointed at her face, barrel in her cheek. He threatened to kill her if she didn't get the damned Ja Rule Cd. No one really cared about him anyways, that and he sucked! I mean, Eminem would have been better.

Moving her arm, she let her legs feel around, hitting something hard, making a small metallic sound before a loud bag and rolling against the pavement, indicating that she had managed to knock over the garbage can. Bringing her arms in towards her chest, and her knee's towards her stomach, she sat on her hands and knees for a moment before slowly pushing herself up, arms shaky and felt like they were about to give out at any moment.

Taking in a deep breath through her nose she exhaled slowly, using her right hand to try and find the building behind her. Once her fingers brushed against the grainy substance of bricks, she slowly pulled herself up, using most of her strength. Remembering to when she was in the store, pushed up against the wall, before feeling something coming into contact with the side of her face, she let her head raise up lightly, hair moving out of her face and eyes; hand moving to come into contact with her cheek. As her skin came into contact with her jaw, she winced, a sharp intake of cold air moved through her nose and into her lungs, causing her to shudder lightly, noticing now, how cold it was outside.

Tears were the least of her concerns right now, she could hear peoples footsteps walking past, ignoring the 21 year old. She had put up with being hurt for most of her life, so having a broken jaw didn't really mean much. Though, she needed to go to the hospital, but she didn't have enough money, nor health insurance to help her. She growled lowly, moving her lips lightly…

"…Shit."

She tensed incredible, eyes closing tightly, before opening them again, and leaning against the wall a little bit more. Breathing slowly, she started to push herself off the wall, letting her hand fall to her side limply, before she let her feet move towards the barred door. She made it with the first step. Her left foot raised, moving in front of her, before giving out once her foot came into contact with the cement. She could feel her body free-falling towards the ground, the short distance only giving it about 3 seconds before she hit face first, probably breaking more bones in her face than intended. But something _didn't_ happen.

She had been caught. Someone had managed to dive in front of her, using their forearms to garb underneath her shoulders, and hoisted her up into a standing position, her weight leaving her and acting completely limp against the one holding her up. Letting her tri-colored eyes move up the body of someone who obviously had class of some sort, or was rich, her eyes came into contact with cold jade eyes, that were obviously glaring at her.

Blue mixed with yellow and bright green clashed against his eyes, a mixture of emotions running through her eyes freely, while his showed absolutely nothing but her own reflection back at her. His red hair seemed to complement his eyes, the black around his eyes seemed to be something similar to eye-liner, or tattoo's, but she had seen something like that around her eyes once in a while, when she rarely slept. A kanji tattoo was written on his forehead, showing that it said 'Love' or 'Ai' for the Japanese. She wondered who'd get a tattoo of that written on their forehead.

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She had been staring at him like she was a horny school-girl who hadn't gotten laid in over a year. He glared at her harshly, causing her to finally take notice and lower her head, trying her best to move out of his firm grip on her. He wasn't a doctor, but he could tell that she was extremely weak, and couldn't even hold up her own weight.

What had happened to her, he hand no idea, but it didn't seem all to much to just lose all your energy after laying on the ground for god knows how long. But her eyes, when she was looking at him, seemed to hold pain, sadness and show she was extremely tired. The way she cowered when he glared at her seemed a bit off but he ignored it. Adjusting her weight a bit, he made it so that he threw her up into his arms, right arm moving around her lower back, and left arm underneath her kneecaps.

Of course, this earned a grunt of disapproval from the female, but he ignored her. She tried to get out of his grasp by placing her hands onto his chest and push away, but her strength completely lacked in doing so.

'Why are you helping her?'

His own little 'inner-voice' as he's come to know since he was a child. He always had this voice within his mind. Of course, only he knew in some type of fear, if he told anyone they would ridicule him more than what he already was. But, this question that it asked him. Why? Why was he helping this female that seemed to just pop up from behind a garbage can in this Ghetto? Usually, he'd watch for a moment, before leaving. But she cause his attention. Made him have a small feeling in the bottom of his stomach that he couldn't place.

When his eyes watched as she shuddered in pain, something inside of him seemed to tug at him to help her, screaming out like something was going to happen, like an animal was raging at seeing this woman hurt, and suddenly pissed off that she was hurt. He was one to love watching someone being in pain - he usually caused it. But this, this was completely different. He was angry at himself when his own body move on accord when her foot gave out on her, causing her to cascade towards the pavement. The way her eyes closed waiting for the impact… it was just odd. Any normal person would instant try and block their face by using their arms; but she didn't.

Why the hell was he so concerned!? Why did he want to help her suddenly? Why did he stick around and watch? Why the hell did he have to come down here and to see this happening, and then to start caring even remotely?

So many questions was bombarding his mind, and he was trying to block them out. He had enough stress with work and his... siblings trying to find him a girl so he could settle down. Now he had to deal with this female. She had finally given up struggling against him and just let him carry her to the nearest hospital, which, thank God, wasn't too far away. Maybe about half a block at the most.

* * *

The two entered through the mechanical doors, eyes watching as they opened for the two. Gaara moved towards the front desk, letting his eyes roam around the room which wasn't filled with too many people that needed some type of medical help. Coming to a glass window with a hole, he waited for the nurse - who was filling something out - to look up at him.

Giving a small cough, to finally grab her attention, she looked up, dark brown hair falling over her face; bright blue eyes glanced at him with a surprised look before smiling seductively at him. She then took notice of the female in his arms who was looking at her with a bored look and one to tell her to stop paying attention to him, and to her more.

"She's needs a doctor."

The nurse nodded, signaling them to go sit down in a chair and wait. Doing so, Gaara placed her on a chair before moving over to the front desk once again, asking for a pen an paper. After receving the things he requested, he walked over to where the female was sitting, and handed the pen and paper to her. She only gave him a confused look.

"What is your name?"

His voice was cold, though, it didn't really bother her all that much. Slowly, she placed the papers on her lap and began to write her name. As she did so, she showed him. She watched as his eyes traveled over the words she wrote - surprisingly, for lack of strength she can write pretty good.

"What happened?"

She sighed lightly, but managed to do so without moving her lips. Writing on the piece of paper again, it took about two minutes to finally write it all down, pausing once and a while to re-think over what had happened. After finishing, she passed him the paper, and he took it. Seeing it was a rather large paragraph.

'I was working in the store, when a couple of kids walked in. They're both Gangsters and they were looking for a certain cd, that I couldn't get because my store is in that part of the city. I had told them I would try my best and get the cd for them - which, this cd isn't even good - but, Darious, the older one of the two pulled out a 9 millimeter pistol and put it against my cheek, shoving me into a wall. He said he'd kill me if I didn't get the cd in about a week. After that he pulled the gun away from me before turning it around and let the back of the gun hit me in the face - as in pistol whipped - and I passed out. I must have been dragged outside so no one would have called the cops.'

After reading it, he let his eyes raise up and look at her, to see if she was lying. But then again people carried guns around now; and there was a lot of people who hurt females for no reason whatsoever. Anger started to form within him, eyes narrowing slightly. The sound of the doctor's voice moved through his mind, and he helped this Tsuyahra woman up, by placing her arm over his shoulder and hoisting her up, following the doctor into a room.

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R i d 3 r: Whoo, this is actually going well for me, for some reason. There isn't a lot of talking, but I think I'm doing well with description and such… hoorah!

SugarSnike: Oimegod. Thanks! And yes, this 'Tasha, is the same Natasha from the other story. This story will have references with the people I utterly hate in life. And why the guy would do that too poor Tsuyahra? Cause the guys an asshole! that's why! You should beat him with that Cheese Stick 'o Doom. -nods-

Me A.K.A Aj: You better have liked it. Would have been better if your review was bigger. Ya meanie.

Emeralds Rose: You can try… but you'll never succeed.. 'specially with your bad Slang. -nods-

Gaara1Love: Ah, well then, for my favorite Reader, here's a chappy for you.


	3. Chapter 3

**Lithium**

**Chapter 3**

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Re-cap

…The sound of the doctor's voice moved through his mind, and he helped this Tsuyahra woman up, by placing her arm over his shoulder and hoisting her up, following the doctor into a room.

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They both twisted around three hallways before finally reaching the bright room. Degree's and medical PH D's hung from the bare walls. Jade eyes glanced around, seeing the bed with the paper-covering on it. The pink leather-like bed seemed odd to have in a hospital. Though, he was used to seeing the stretchers and people being rushed into the ER, while he was there for a 'check-up' even though he didn't need it, and was fine.

Lowering the female down onto the paper, she adjusted herself slightly, glaring at the rather young male doctor that was turned around, putting on the white rubber gloves. Letting them slap against his skin, curling his fingers into his palm and back out, stretching his fingers before turning around and smiling lightly.

His brown hair seemed to be off with him, it was a mullet though - and very out of date. Hazel eyes showed a little bit too much happiness to see this woman in front of him. Honestly, to Gaara, this doctor seemed way to young and too cocky. He was scrawny as hell!

"So…" His voice broke through the silence like a hot knife through butter. His voice seemed to be ragged, hadn't been used in a while. "…Why are you here, 'Yahra-chan? I thought I wouldn't have you in at all this month. You were going good!" The male smiled, then laughed lightly at the glare he was receiving. "Though, I don't see why you came here anyways. You wont be able to get anything done. Not even an X-ray to see if that jaw of yours is broken."

Tsuyahra sighed lightly, closing her eyes, moving to get off the small bed, before being stopped by the other males voice; eyes traveling over towards him. His eyes seemed to be closed, arms crossed over his chest as if he wasn't interested at all.

"Get the tests done. I'll pay for it."

Tsuyahra was going to say something, but remembered she couldn't move her mouth unless she wanted to be in pain. She was a pussy when it came to pain - she hated it, though she didn't want to see so damned weak that she already made herself.

"Okay then. May I ask who you are then, Sir?"

Gaara stayed silent for a moment, letting his black-rimmed eyes open slowly, pupil-less eyes once again adjusting to the bright white room. The question as to who he was… not that he really cared, but you'd expect with all the praise he'd get from work, from every other person in the business; how could he not know? Though, it had only been a couple of months since Gaara had gotten his job - it'd take a while before it got around who he was. Moving his lips, he only said two words..

"Sabaku Gaara."

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The checkup went fine, her heart beat was fine, lungs; clear. Though, she had no idea why he was checking up on her; so she thought it was something to deal with his job and having to do so. She had eyed this Gaara a couple of times, looking over him; before long, she noticed she had been staring and pulled her eyes away. It was true, he was very good looking, apparently very rich and that was it.

He looked as if he was going to kill her; that was true. She felt very hesitant around him, but she didn't fear him. She only feared one person in this world and he wasn't around this area anymore. She could still remember the feel of his calloused, hard hands pressing against her body. Feel his lips smashing against hers, trying to take her away from herself. The feel of his hard body against hers before suddenly coming into contact with the hard dry-wall and punches to the face.

Yes, she was abused when she was younger. She - at first - was abused by her own father, but it didn't last long. Well, she was 12 went it started and it stopped when she was 17 -to her, it wasn't long - her father dying due to a heart attack. She could remember the way he looked when he loomed over her for that final time. Eyes wild and wide, hand in the air made into a fist. The whole thing, within her mind and her very own eyes seemed to go slow motion.

The dark, tanned fist cascaded down towards her face in a movement that started at the 'top' and swung around like you were going to hit a baseball for a homerun. She could see the veins in his wrist turn bright blue as it neared her face, waiting for the hit as she sat staring at the man she called Father. All devotion, all love, and honesty was broken in a single movement; a single sound.

He choked. On what? She had no idea, but it was something that stopped what he was about to do. Both of his hands moved over his heart, body started to shake. She had no clue on what was going on. Sure, she had wished for him to die before he hit her - but she never though it would have come true in all the years this had been going on. Tears seemed to brim his eyes, pain filling his whole body, collapsing onto his knee's in front of her. Silently grabbing out to her, as if he wanted her to stop the pain that was hurting him.

She cried, grabbing onto his arm tightly. She didn't want him to die! He was the only family she had left in her life; even though he abused her, he was still her father. He died in her arms, and that was the ending of her abuse… Not until it started a couple of years later with her ex-boyfriend.

She never really hated her life. Sure she thought about committing suicide, but that wouldn't have gotten her anywhere's. What would she do if she was dead? She couldn't watch her next door neighbor's kids when she had only a little bit of time off from her work. She was jolted back from her little reverie, feeling someone's skin come into contact with her bruise, which caused her to jolt her head back and raise her hand to cover that spot, glaring lightly at the one who had hurt her more.

"Gomen. But, I need to see if it is broken. Alright? This will hur-- Actually. Gaara, can you hold her for me, please?" The Doctor, she had come to known as Tai looked towards Gaara - who reluctantly stood up and walked behind Tsuyahra - hands being placed on her shoulders tightly so she wouldn't move around much.

Tsuyahra took in a deep breath through her nose, closing her eyes, nodding her head slightly so that Tai could do what it was he needed to do. Feeling the tip of his fingers press against her jaw, she took in a sharp intake of breath, and he kept pressing harder. Tsuyahra wanted to hit him; but she wasn't one to do that. She wanted to scream, or cry. But tears wouldn't come. She could feel Gaara's hands tighten on her shoulders, holding her more tightly against the bed-chair thing.

Three excruciating minutes later, Tai finally pulled away from her, Tsuyahra relaxing and breathing in and out through her nose. Tai smiled lightly at her, patting her head as if she was a child - which to Tai she was. He was about 4 years older than Tsuyahra, making him 25.

"Okay! It's not broken, but fractured. So no need to get X-rays or CAT scans. Which is good, and it doesn't charge you. Now, Listen to me carefully, because you **need **to do these so it'll heal faster." He glared harshly at Tsuyahra, nodding her head, she shrugged her shoulders so Gaara would let go, and only stand behind her.

"Alright, follow these steps, Tsuyahra… ()Apply ice to your jaw for fifteen to twenty minutes each hour for the first one to two days. Put the ice in a plastic bag and place a towel between the bag of ice and your skin. After the first one to two days, you may put heat on the injury to help ease the pain. Use a warm heating pad (set on low), whirlpool bath, or warm, moist towels for fifteen to twenty minutes every hour for forty-eight hours. Do not push on your jaw or allow anything else to push on it. Sleep on your back. Do not exercise so hard that you must pant for breath. And. You can take over-the-counter medicines to ease the pain. Always take medications exactly as directed." He sounded so… Professional, it made Tsuyahra giggle lightly. Smiling lightly, he nodded to her, indicating she could leave. Jumping off the bed turned to leave, only to have Tai's voice stop her. 

"And, Yahra-chan. Get some sleep. Close your shop down for about a week. You need to rest. If you don't you'll get sick, and may end up here with me for more than an hour. You wouldn't want that, now would you?"

She shuddered at the thought of being in the hospital, with Tai for more than an hour. It happened once, and she wasn't going to do it again. That day was the most scariest thing she had ever gone through in her entire life.

"Oh! And don't talk unless you can freely move your jaw. You can do that in a couple of day. Ciao, Yahra-chan!"

---------------------

Gaara stood at the front desk, signing out the papers required before turning around and facing Tsuyahra. She gave an odd smile, a good one for someone who could barely move their jaw. Her pink lips slowly formed into a straight, thin line; as if she was angry. He watched as she folded a piece of paper and handed it to it, raising her right hand, she waved to him and ran out of the hospital. Doors opening just before she came into contact with the metal.

He would have walked her home, but then again he would have been acting way to generous, and Gaara was **not** generous in the least. Looking at his watch, he sighed to himself, seeing it was already 10:56. There was no point in going to the bar, which meant that he was going to be stuck with a ranting hormone-filled tramp at work tomorrow.

That would be fun…

Not.

Exiting the hospital, he turned to the left heading back towards his office; again receiving the looks from the hookers, and sometimes the males - which caused Gaara to get pissed off. Exiting out of that part of the city, he walked towards his car; which wasn't much… He didn't buy it, but his brother, Kankuro did. All it was, was just an escalade. To Gaara, that wasn't much.

Pulling out his keys from his pocket, separate keys hit against each other, causing a jingling type of sound before placing one key into the door and unlocking it. Pulling the handle, he stepped inside and slammed the door shut; lazily putting his seatbelt over his shoulder to make it look as if he had it on, when he didn't. Putting the key into the ignition and turning it, letting the engine rumble for a moment, before pulling the key back lightly and letting go of it. Placing his right hand onto the stick shift, putting it into reverse and driving out of his small parking spot, before putting the car into drive, and driving out of the office lot.

His mind went over what had happened all today. First, work was a bitch, he talked to the executives and had a proposition made for him… which he didn't really pay all that much attention to, so he dismissed it. Talked to his brother, talked with the tramp, and left work, while on his way meeting a woman that was thrown behind garbage cans. Then he decided that it should be 'nice' to at least help the woman, so he did and brought her to the hospital.

He sighed lightly, hating the feeling that was emerging once again at the bottom of his stomach. The feeling that made him want to throw up. He hated the feeling. The only time he needed to feel what was going on right now, was when he had been drinking to much to even remember what happened on a night. The only time.

His home wasn't all to far away, maybe about a 7 minute drive. Pulling into the driveway, he parked the car, grabbing the key and opening the door, slamming it shut behind him as he stood up. Locking the doors, he walked on the small little pathway of cement and walked to the large dark door, unlocking it and walking in. Letting his fingers roam over the buttons for the security lock.

Taking his jacket off and throwing it into the living room, he walked up the stairs and into his bedroom. He was glad he didn't live with his family, and that he lived alone. Even though this house was huge; like a mansion. Eyes looked around the black room. The only things in it were a TV - which was large, almost taking up half the wall, he still didn't know why it was that big. He didn't like it… made him feel too.. _important_.

His bed was nothing more than a king sized bed with black and red sheets, about 6 pillows, a desk right beside it and a computer on the other side of the room, papers scattered acrossed it like it was just thrown there. Walking over to his bed, he sat down, hearing a crumple noise, remembering he had that piece of paper that Tsuyahra had given him. He had forgotten he put it in his back pocket.

Sighing lightly, he pulled it out, opening it and read over what it said…

'Gaara-san, thank you so much for today. You don't really seem like the person to randomly help people who emerge from behind garbage cans, then collapse; but anyways, really, thank you. You're probably the only one who had brought me to the hospital when something happened to me. This'll probably be the last time I see you - so… again. Thank you for what you did. You're in my debt.'

Tsuyahra Yakuchi

A small smirk crossed his lips. She was right. He wasn't the one to just help. She could read him, or it was just plain obvious - which to a lot of people it was. This Tsuyahra Yakuchi girl interested him… Maybe he'd see her one last time…

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R i d 3 r: Yanno what, writing this made my back hurt. So be thankful I did it anyways! I'm so tired.. Damn school anyways..

() That was actually from some site I looked up on Google… Yeh.. O.o

SugarSnike: lmao, your reviews make me laugh so hard! You'll see Darious soon, I promise you! You'll be able to beat the living shit outta him. -nods-

Emeralds Rose: okay, these chapters aren't long! It's long when you write 3 damn chapters in the span of 2 and a half hours. Bastard. Complaining. Tch.

Gaara's Pyro RACCOON: oh God! Don't hurt me.. -cowers- Here's your update…


	4. Chapter 4

**Lithium**

**Chapter 4**

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Re-cap

'…This'll probably be the last time I see you - so… again. Thank you for what you did. You're in my debt.'

Tsuyahra Yakuchi

A small smirk crossed his lips. She was right. He wasn't the one to just help. She could read him, or it was just plain obvious - which to a lot of people it was. This Tsuyahra Yakuchi girl interested him… Maybe he'd see her one last time…

--------------

The sounds of people talking, and paper's being ripped. The occasional laugh of two floated absently through Gaara's head. He had been off in his own little world lately, apparently yelling at his 'other self' about that Tsuyahra girl he met only a couple of weeks ago. He had seen her a couple of days ago; and she seemed to be better. She could actually form a smile than the odd-looking one when she had problems moving her jaw at all.

Her smile was stuck in his head; her eyes, her face, everything seemed to be in front of him - as if she was talking to him right now. But soon, that image faded as if it was being burned and there stood 'Tasha, arms folded off her barely cover chest, eyes narrowed and burning with rage. She was still upset about what happened a couple of weeks ago, and she wouldn't let it go.

She'd never say anything, she'd stand there, glaring and letting her mouth open to say something before slamming it shut screaming and 'gah' and spinning on her heel, turning around swiftly leaving him to sit in his office alone once again. He knew she was trying to provoke him into making him do something towards her so he'd get charged; but he wasn't stupid. Not a lot of people could provoke Gaara. Okay, that was a lie. They provoked him into getting pissed by saying the most stupidest things. Like how his brother, Kankuro acts around him.

Standing up, he was going to go get himself a coffee, or something to drink before his brother decided to grace him with his presence. Smiling cockily, he slammed a yellow folder down onto Gaara's desk and sat down in the chair that was covered in leather. Kankuro then crossed his legs, like a female would - it made Gaara wonder if Kankuro had a sex-change… It could be possible.

"I just saw 'Tasha walk out of your office; what did you do this time?" Kankuro wanted to laugh, remembering the face she was making as she walked out his younger brothers office. He watched her closely as she walked to her cubicle and went to sit down, only to have a male co-worker pull her chair out and away from her - her being oblivious went to sit down, but only got an ass-full of air and landed on the floor; skirt ridding up farther than it already was; so it was showing her 'pretty-pink-panties'.

"Nothing. What do you want, Kankuro?" Gaara didn't want his older brother to stay in the office more than two minutes… It was bad enough he had to live with him for most of his life; but now, he didn't want all that much to deal with him. Kankuro was slowly corrupting his poor little mind… even if he didn't want to admit it.

"Alright, Alright. Calm down. Now, in about 3 days there's the Christmas party going on. Temari wants you to go and bring a date. She said something about keeping up the dressing; Yanno, if you decide to bring a whore or whatever you brought last time. She doesn't want a repeat of what happened before…" Kankuro smiled perverted-like at what had happened at the last Christmas party…

-Flash back-

Gaara entered into the large room, filled with all his employee's and co-workers. Everyone eyeing him and his… lovely date. She was pretty…to a point and she was way to underdressed, and for Gaara to had picked her out; **he** was the one out of her league. You'd think Gaara would have chosen better.

She was short, well maybe a couple of inches shorter than Gaara. Her long bright blonde hair was in in many different directions, sprayed with tons of hairspray. Around her neck was a small diamonds pendant, her fingers held some expensive rings; gold sapphire rings, silver rings, ect, ect. Her dull gray eyes didn't really stand out; but the black eye liner made it 'pop', dark blue eye shadow matched her shimmering dress that was v-cut down to her navel. Exposing the sides of her breasts, the bottom of her dress went to mid-thigh. Black high heeled boots went to just below her knee's, or as some called 'Hooker boots.'

Now; Kankuro had stared at her, wide-eyed for about an hour, just gawking at her and drinking Sake. Gaara, being the company owner had to talk with people, and 'converse' more than he had too. Which had irritated him to no point.

And like every party, birthday, new years, Christmas; something big always has to happen without fail, and that thing would be a jealous female, who, had tried to get to go to the party with Gaara for a whole year, jumped the blonde bimbo, and started to claw, punch and bite her. Which inevitable ended up with both of them flying into a table and getting punch all over them. As they continued their clothes led to them being ripped off and screaming followed.

Kankuro who was watching the whole thing, completely fascinated, jumped in, only to end up getting punched and kicked. He managed to get out of the small fight with a bleeding nose; both of his arms wrapped around both females leaving the party.

What had happened after that, Gaara was sure as hell not going to think about it.

-End Flash back-

Gaara gave Kankuro a bored look, finally raising his right hand and pointing to the glass door. Indicating a 'Leave now'. But, Kankuro mistook it for a 'Leave now, or I'll kill you.' Due to the glare he was receiving from the younger sibling. Standing up, he brushed his black jacket, adjusted his hair by running his fingers through it and turned to leave. Once getting to the door he turned around and looked at Gaara.

"If you do have a date like last time; bring three of them." Kankuro winked and practically skipped out of the room and away from his door.

What a fairy.

Leaning back into his chair, he closed his black-rimmed eyes, letting his mind move over the possibilities of who he could bring just to entertain people and make them 'happy' so they wouldn't be asking why he didn't have a date, and why he seemed so lonely. He never thought people could even care for him; even if it was subtle.

A couple of people ran through his mind then suddenly that girl, Tsuyahra. Sighing, he opened his eyes, letting them roam to his wrist, to see what time it was. 5:30. God he was bored really. So; without further ado, the twenty-three year old male stood up and left work.

-----------------------

Tsuyahra stood at the small little ratty desk in the front of the store. The ringing of the bell sounded and caused her to look up from what she was reading, to see a couple of new people enter the store. She smiled lightly and stood up. They had asked for a Cd from Evanescence and she easily pulled out a cd and showed them, earning a nod and they gave her 20 dollars for the cd - which it was only about 16 dollars without tax.

Watching them leave, she smiled again. Another small tip - it'd go to her new house, when she got enough money. She wanted to leave this place as fast as she could. She didn't want to see Darious in here… Not now at least. It had been passed a week, and he hadn't shown. Maybe he finally got a taste of his own medicine? No.. She couldn't think like that, even after what he did to her.

Walking over to the corner of her shop, she grabbed a Disturbed Cd off the counter and put it into the small Cd player, putting it a little bit too loud, but the songs were good! Pressing the button that indicated to go forwards, she came to a stop on number four. After letting it play, she started to clean up.

"I only wanted the blessing made  
Now I've been labeled a renegade  
It seems so clear now what I must do  
You're no immortal  
I won't let them  
Deify you  
They view you as the new messiah  
Deify you  
Renew belief in some demented man"

Tsuyahra's small voice, though filled with such practice skills moved through out her small store, enjoying the song she loved so much, for some reason. It was probably the way the guitar was played, she didn't know. It was good, and that was that. Smiling lightly, she put some Cd's into their right place before standing up straight and looking outside.

It had finally started to snow, the white snowflakes slowly falling from the sky. It was soon to be Christmas, and even her birthday was soon. She was excited, but the thought of Darious coming back here… She shook her head, deciding to let her mind roam some where's else, when ended up on a certain red-head that had helped her that day when they came in.

She smiled lightly at what he looked like. She could tell right off, when she looked at him, he wasn't one to usually help someone. Just probably watch, before walking away. The reflection in his eyes when she collapsed into him, indicated to her right away he wasn't one of those happy people. He was probably someone who was out-casted when he was younger.

Letting her shoulders move into a shrugging motion, she could remember when they had seen each other only recently…

-flash back-

She had been sweeping the sidewalk in front of the door, cleaning it, before cleaning the windows with some Windex, which she managed to get some in her eye. But she soon washed it out. She let her head lift only to have her one red eye and normal eyes widen.

It was about 9:30 at night, when she was closing, when he walked up to the store. She smiled at him lightly, thanking him in person instead of running off. Putting the cloth down she raised her right hand, in a movement to shake his hand. She could see him hesitate before letting her hand grasp his. Shaking his hand lightly, after he returned it, she let go.

"Thank you… for what you did. I really appreacate it." Her voice was calm, though barely audible due to the emergency truck driving by with it's sirens blaring, red and blue swirling around the area and around them.

"No problem…"

Again, she smiled - which she found to be odd. She never smiled more than once to a person unless she was really, really happy. She didn't really know this man, but yes, he was extremely hot in her eyes, she could feel a small blush rise to her cheeks, and he caught it, eyes narrowing slightly to ask 'what's wrong'.

"Just the cold. Anyways, I see your going some where's so I wont stop you.." She paused for only a moment, moving out of his way. "…Good to see you again, Gaara." She bowed lightly, turning to grab the cloth she put on the windowsill and started to clean once again..

-End Flash back-

Removing herself from the window she turned and walked back to the small desk, and sitting down on a stool. Using her left foot she raised it into the air, kicking at the Cd player eventually causing it to stop and practically scream 'What the hell did I do to you?'. She giggled to herself lightly, lowering her leg after it started to hurt the back of her thigh. Licking her index finger, she let her eyes scan over the blue pages of the magazine. Looking at the pictures carefully, she could easily make out the whole Photoshop editing in it. The eyes were way to bright!'

That is what she hated about magazines and everything else to deal with good photographers; they always had to edit the pictures to make the woman or man more… 'beautiful'. Frankly, it made her mad that they did that… To adjust beauty to people's specifications. It made her seem as though she couldn't get that type of attention because, well, she wasn't all that good of eye-candy.

Sighing lightly she remembered a little girl coming in here, over a year ago, asking for a Cd from Beyoncé or someone, she couldn't really remember, but after she bought it, the little girl smiled and pointed at the cover.

"I wish I could look like her, someday! She's so pretty. Maybe I'll get a boyfriend then!" She giggled and ran out of the store.

It made her sad to see kids looking up to people who have only be edited, even if it was slightly. The sound of ringing caused her to look up from the book only to see Darious standing in front of her, arms crossed over his chest. She knew exactly what he wanted, and she knew what would happened when he found out that she didn't have it…

That damned Cd.

Her eyes flashed anger, but the male didn't take notice. Letting a soft sigh escape her lips, she just had to stall long enough for someone - anyone - to enter the store. They wouldn't do anything if there was possible witnesses around. They wanted to be 'cool' when they were alone.

Moving to the middle of the store, she slowly let her pale hands move over the Cd's letting them fall towards her so she could see the cover of the Cd's behind them. Her eyes shifted back towards them; they were watching her hands carefully, as if something was just going to pop out and grab them….

(Which, something did happen! SugarSnike jumped out from underneath the wooden Cd holder thing, Cheese stick 'o Doom in hand and started to beat Darious to death. Laughing manically, the only thing that was heard was… "J00 Ded!!" LOL! There ya go SugarSnike!)

It took literally five minutes to go through all the Cd's in the middle before they finally said something, Darious going to pull the gun out of his pants before the ringing of the bell on the door sounded. All eyes turned towards it, Tsuyahra sighing in relief that someone came in.

She knew exactly who it was, but the other two didn't know. Darious' hand was still on the gun in his baggy pants, glaring hard at the man who walked in. Darious' eyes looked over him, smirking smugly to himself, think he could take him out. He looked scrawny. Classy people had no place down here; he'd get his ass kicked by them.

Tsuyahra could see his eyes moving towards her, in an attempt to ask what was going on. She only needed to do two things to indicate something… She pointed at Darious, then pointed at the small bruise on her jaw.

She could see the anger flash through his eyes.

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R i d 3 r: Jesus Don't kill me! I'm sorry I didn't update. Just the other day, I was tired, then I went out, and same with yesterday.. And.. Yeah, I'll shut up with my excuses. Uhm… I hope this chapter doesn't make it seem as if it's… rushed? I dunno, but that's how I look at it. Remember, Reviews gives me motivation! Motivation make me type a lot. Oh, the lyrics it's from Disturb's new CD Ten Thousand Fists, Number 2, Deify. Kick ass song. ANYWAYS!

Emeralds Rose: I know I do, that's why is story is gonna have a twist eventually. So yeh. I win.

3Karen3: I seem to be abused by every other person! -whimpers- thanks for reviewing!

Gaara's Pyro RACCOON: No! No! I taste very bad! So you wouldn't be able to eat me… I'll give you cookies?

SugarSnike: See!! Look! I put you killing him in it… sort of. I really wish I could use that to kill him.

KAT: Aw! Thanks for reviewing!

Ninjagirl4ever: Thanks for your review!


	5. Chapter 5

**Lithium**

**Chapter 5**

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Re-cap

…Tsuyahra could see his eyes moving towards her, in an attempt to ask what was going on. She only needed to do two things to indicate something… She pointed at Darious, then pointed at the small bruise on her jaw.

She could see the anger flash through his eyes.

------

She thought something really big was going to happen once she saw the look of anger pass through Gaara's eyes. Sure, he only knew her for about, what? 2 days, maybe? But she didn't think he'd get angry and glare hard at the younger male standing in front of him. Her eyes shifted towards Darious, watching as his index finger, and ring finger fidgeted, in anxiousness of pulling the gun out of his pants and pointing it towards Gaara.

His eyes started to widen, he was getting extremely anxious; he wanted to 'pop a cap in his ass' - as people on the streets usually called it… Or maybe just her good friend. She never really paid attention. Finally, she let her legs move and she backed up into the wall, she didn't have anything in this store to call the cops - like those red buttons underneath the desk counter at a bank or something. The only way to get them here, was her cell; which was currently in the back room, the door to it currently behind Gaara.

Who called it a backroom when it was beside the front door?

The silence was completely unnerving, the two black males staring Gaara, trying to break in competition to make him run, obviously it wasn't working. The expression on their face was having more worry than confidence. It took a minute or two before Darious finally managed to pull the gun out of his pants and pointed the barrel at Gaara's body; target point not even located, it would be one of those 'pull the trigger and run' routines that they usually did.

A small gasp came out of Tsuyahra's mouth, worry for what would happen to Gaara if Darious would have pulled the trigger; but soon worry was replaced with astonishment as the gun went flying through the air, hitting the ground hard, causing it to go off and hit the other male in the back of the leg, a scream of pain filtering through the room over-top of the small struggle going on between Darious and Gaara.

Darious managed to get a punch at Gaara's face, coming into contact with his jaw, but Gaara returned with a punch in the gut, causing Darious to gasp in pain and double into Gaara eyes wide. Taking this opportunity, Gaara's left foot swiped underneath the male's legs, causing him to fall on his back most of the impact being softened to his jacket.

Darious slowly tried to get up and grab his gun at the same time - ignoring his younger brother's screams of pain - before having a foot press harshly on his wrist causing Darious to moan in pain; before screaming as another foot came into contact with his neck, blocking his airway easily. Darious thought he was going to get killed right then and there by some male, who he mistook to be weak. Closing his eyes, he waited for the inevitable.

Movement of the foot off his wrist and throat, lifted and Darious took in a bit too much air, causing him to cough. Opening his eyes, all the time he had to see was a hand reach down, grabbing the collar of his shirt and picking him up with little ease before throwing him into the wall, forearm pressed against his airway once again.

"Come near here again; I'll kill you." Gaara's voice was the only thing that Darious could hear, as if they were the only two people in the room at all; that or it seemed as if it was a void, and he was going to die anyways. Nodding with the difficulty of Gaara's forearm being in the way, Gaara let him go.

Staring at him dumbfounded, he finally came to his sense's, grabbing his younger brother's white jacket and dragging him out of the store, running down the street as best as they could.

---------------

It wasn't much of a big fight, though he wished it would have lasted longer and this… Darious person knew how to actually fight. Gaara's hand moved to the spot where he had hit him, shrugging it off. The hit was a pussy hit - hell a damned grade six could have done better than that. Gangsters? Hardly. Just because they had a gun didn't mean they were officially Gangsters.

Glaring at the door when the two ran, his eyes narrowed. So those two were the ones to hurt Tsuyahra and left her outside? He should have gave them more of a beating before throwing them into the middle of the street so they could be used as speed-bumps for the cars. His jade eyes finally pried away from the door to see Tsuyahra standing against the wall, looking at him as if he was a prince in shining armour… if only.

"You alright?" He knew he shouldn't act as if he cared but it was hard to do with her. She gave of the aura that would make anyone - cold or nice - happy in anyway possible. Walking in front of her to check and see that they hadn't hurt her. Finding nothing, he felt something come into contact with his cheek. Grabbing the closet thing to his face, he tightened his grip.

Noticing who was touching him, he loosened his hand; he must have hurt her. Sighing in his own mind, his jade eyes looked over her wrist, before she pulled out of his grasp slowly, causing him to look at her face. She only smiled and laughed lightly.

"I'm alright. It didn't hurt…" He watched as she stopped talking for a moment, her pink lips forming into a poise that made it seem as though she was thinking. "…You're not hurt are you?"

Gaara was slightly taken back when she asked him that. Of course he was fine! He's Gaara. Gaara doesn't get hurt easily. He let his shoulders roll lightly, indicating he was shrugging. Now that he thought of it, Tsuyahra was shorter than him a lot shorter than he originally thought. He was literally a head taller than her. He felt awkwardly tall for some reason.

Remembering the reason he came here, he adjusted his black jacket, looking directly in her eyes to see she was wondering exactly why he was here. Nodding his head, he answered…

"I came by to ask if you wanted to join me to a party two days from now. I'm required to have a 'date'."

-----------------

Her eyes widened, looking at him as if he just grew another head. Why in the hell would he ask her to join him at a party, for his work? She was confused… She wasn't all that appealing, she knew; and she didn't even have enough money to buy anything good, let alone nice! She couldn't afford to go. Sadly, she had to decline…

"I'm sorry…. I can't." She wanted to go, sure; but she wasn't going to blurt out her finical problem to him and then suddenly he'll pay for everything she needed. She hated feeling useless and bumming money off people.

She saw the look he was giving her, and she looked away; managing to move herself from in front of him, back to the small little desk. Crouching, she looked through a couple of boxes, things occasionally making glass-like noises. A small jolt of pain moved through her index finger and she pulled her hand out of the small box, glaring at her finger as a small ball of blood started to form from the paper-cut she acquired. Putting her finger in her mouth, she continued to move things around before finally pulling out a small glass gourd out of the box. It was black with random spirals of red moving around it, as if it was some type of aura.

Standing up slowly, knee's cracking it process she held the small glass-figure in her hand, holding it out towards him. He looked at it oddly before his fingers grasped the small figure. She smiled, moving her finger out of her mouth. He looked cute when he was trying to figure out what he was holding.

"What… Is this?" He seemed to unsure of what to think. As if he hadn't gotten a present before at all in his life. She smiled and giggled lightly.

"It's a Christmas present! I know it isn't much, but I saw it, and I had to get it. It seems as though you never gotten a present before…"

His eyes shifted towards her, eyes flashing sadness quickly, before vanishing. "I never had a present before…"

Her eyes widened, looking at him in disbelief. Well, she rarely got presents, Christmas and her birthday wasn't all that much to look forwards too; but it was still something she got from her mother, and under the Christmas tree when she was younger. She let the smile return to her lips, getting a confused look from Gaara.

"Then! Consider this your first ever Christmas present, courteous of Tsuyahra Yakuchi! It'll probably be about 20 dollars off what you paid for me in the hospital. I do plan on paying you back…"

Gaara's head shook, lowering the glass figure onto the counter, arms moving to cross over his chest; eyes holding a bored look. "You don't need to pay it. Because I don't have a gift for you, what I paid at the hospital will be it." He paused for a moment. "Though, another good thing would be if you come to the party."

"I'm sorry, Gaara. I can't…" She sounded depressed, as if she wanted to go; but was forcing herself to say no.

"Why not?" Why was he trying to get her to go!? What is his problem? He never tried desperately to get a female to go to a party with him, it was usually ask once, and that was it. He never knew things could become so complicated after one meeting - like she was trying to pull him towards her… He felt as if he was stuck in a tornado..

"I… I don't have anything nice to wear. I mean, I live here. In a place that is completely and utterly ghetto. Even my house is falling apart. I'm sure you can find someone else with better class then mine. I'm not all that good to look at either." She paused, heaving a small sigh, her tri-colored eyes closing. "Anyways, you're of extremely high class, I'm of extremely low class. It wouldn't be right, and I would feel awkward in a position where everyone around me has money…"

"I'll only ask once more… Yakuchi-san. Lets say this'll be another Christmas present for me; if you come. I'll get you something nice to wear." Gaara closed his black-rimmed eyes for a moment, not bothering to look at her. He knew she'd complain about him getting something; all females who didn't have enough money - or did have a lot of money, but planned to save it - would complain and feel awkward.

"I…" she sighed softly. Opening her eyes and looking at Gaara. "You won't give up, will you? Even if I do say no, you'll end up making me go…" She shook her head lightly, letting her fingers run through her bangs before pushing them behind her ears. She could see Gaara nod lightly, as if to answer her. "Yare, Yare. Then… I guess I can go…"

Gaara's eyes opened, and his lips tugged in a small smirk, barely noticeable, but Tsuyahra caught a glimpse of it.

"Two days… It'll be one interesting birthday I can say that much…" Tsuyahra sighed softly, letting her lips turn into a smile.

-------------------

The next day, the two were walking side-by-side in a mall that was close to where they both resided. Tsuyahra had started to fidget when she first entered the mall with him. Even if he was wearing everyday normal clothes, she still felt out of place and managed to stay a step behind him. She had been taught to stand behind a man; courtesy of her father.

Gaara, getting annoyed with having someone tailing him, had grabbed onto her arm and pulled her so she was stepping with him, and not behind him. She gave him an odd look before calming herself so she looked at if she wasn't doing crack. Gaara smirked lightly, seeing her eyes widened at a rather nice looking dress. Of course, he knew shopping with a female was hectic - due to all the damned gold digging whore's that seemed to fall into his lap - he could at least try and put up with it today.

Passing three stores, and no movement to actually let her grab something, she felt someone shove her in a direction that she was looking at. Letting her head turn, she looked at Gaara, who was 'innocently' looking away as if he hadn't done anything. Shaking her head, she made her way over to a store - the name, she didn't pay attention too - and walked over to a wall that held many, many dresses that could be used for cocktail party's, normal party's ect, ect.

Letting her fingers brush over a dark blue dress, she pulled it out towards her. The bottom was cut short in the front, but was long in the back. The top of the dress was cut simply like a halter-top. Two straps would wrap around one's neck and show a bit too much cleavage, but enough to keep a man guess exactly how much was there.

Lowering the dress back against the wall, she let her fingers move to the white price tag. It was her size, but the price! Her eyes nearly fell out of her head seeing the price they made this. It was simple, but shimmered with the light… but it was $499.99! And with taxes, that would have made it about 550.00 dollars alone. She sighed lightly, moving to turn around, only to be greeted with a chest.

"Get it." Her eyes moved towards Gaara's face, giving him a look of annoyance.

"It's nothing. Just get it."

So, reluctantly she grabbed onto the dress and followed behind Gaara to the counter. Waiting in line for what seemed like an eternity, because some old woman just kept talking and talking, they finally made it to the front of the line. Placing the dress on the counter, the cashier put in the price and Gaara paid. Why did it seem as though it would have ripped her in half if she would have paid that?

This was a dress she'd probably wear only once… This utterly sucked.

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R i d 3 r: Well, uhm, I realize there is a lot of talking in this, unlike my other chapters… but yeah. Uhm… I don't know what to say about this really. But I realized this story is popular! I'm surprised…

Emeralds Rose: No, Gaara doesn't have a gourd in this. It's AU, and he doesn't need sand to protect him.. Lol. Jeeze.

SugarSnike: Lmao, the way of a true ninja! I still don't know how you even got there. I swear I saw smoke moving in the 'backroom'… It was you, wasn't it?

Lovefatedestiny: Thank you! I'm glad you like it!

Gaara1Love: I updated! He didn't really get his ass kicked, but some dude got shot!

Tainted-reflection-126: Wooow. Thank you so much! I never thought I'd get an A+… I mean, a c would have been good. Thank you. -gives cookies-


	6. Chapter 6

**Lithium**

**Chapter 6**

--------

Re-cap

Placing the dress on the counter, the cashier put in the price and Gaara paid. Why did it seem as though it would have ripped her in half if she would have paid that?

This was a dress she'd probably wear only once… This utterly sucked.

----------

So, she had been standing near the punch bowl, hand holding a small glass of punch; tri-colored eyes glancing around at all the employee's that worked with or under Gaara. She sighed softly; she had been standing here, alone, for more than 20 minutes. She respected the fact that Gaara, being the Chairman of this company - much to Tsuyahra's dismay - needed to converse with people. It came with the job, Tsuyahra knew, but this was just annoying. She even had a couple of guy's come up and ask her who she was with; or if she was here alone, looking for a 'good' time.

Oh yes, she remembered their faces when she told them that she had come with Gaara, and they immediately backed off as if she was the spawn of the devil and would rip their eyes out at any given moment. Gaara must have been feared to some degree if someone who's with him could scare them as well. Bringing her hand up, she let the edge of the glass rest on her pink lips, before pulling the cup up towards her mouth so that the limited liquid that was left in the glass slid down the side and into her mouth, before letting it slide down her throat.

Letting the glass move away from her lips, she turned around, grabbing the handle to an over-large spoon and poured herself another glass of the punch. Feeling someone tap on her right shoulder, baring nails that slightly dug into her white skin, she turned her head to face a female that stood in front of her, almost cowering over her as much as Gaara did with the hooker-boots she was wearing. Her dark blue eye shadow seemed over-done. It looked as if it was weighing down her face.

Her long blonde hair was curled, thrown carelessly around her shoulders and draping over her back like a curtain. Her lipstick was smeared lightly, eyes glazed over with lust. The bottom of her dress was hiked up a little to high, dress was messy, but not all that much - meaning she must have screwed someone in the back. Tsuyahra turned around completely, looking at the woman in front of her with a look asking what she wanted.

"You came with Gaara, didn't you?" Her voice was a little too high for her opinion - preppy even. Now, Tsuyahra didn't really have a problem with preppy people; but they did get annoying a lot of times, even to the point where she just wanted to punch them out… and Tsuyahra never hurt anyone. Nodding her head in an attempted to say yes, she found herself about 2 inches away from her face, her eyes narrowed in a movement to provoke her.

"Stay away from him; he's mine!" She screeched this loud enough for everyone to hear, temporarily everyone's eyes were on the two females, Kankuro immediately standing off to the side, waiting for the fight to break out; eyes wild with passion and his mouth opened; as if he was waiting for it like a lion and their food.

"Alright, Harpy. Calm down." Tsuyahra had to close her right eye; spit managed to get in her eyeball. It didn't hurt, but it was gross. She felt as if she would randomly attain 'preppy' from spit. Like how you can get HIV or AID from blood if it was coughed on you. Sighing lightly, Tsuyahra managed to pull her face away from the female, to momentarily glance around to see everyone's eyes on the two of them; this caused Tsuyahra to blush lightly.

"Hey! What did you call me!?" She was screaming like a drunken guy who was getting ass raped. Actually; no, that didn't work. She was just screaming…. Screaming like a damned siren that was standing no more than 5 inches in front of you. She swore she went deaf for a couple of seconds.

"I called you a harpy. Can you please get out of my face? I haven't done anything to you, to suddenly have someone in my face and screaming at me for no reason." Tsuyahra could see the anger that flew through her face as if she was a movie. Oh yes, she was pissed beyond hell.

'Tasha just wanted to rip her face off her body. And, so she even tried; trying to claw at the woman in front of her. Her long nails - one being broken due to earlier events - came into contact with Tsuyahra's face, causing the woman to back up into the table. She wasn't going to fight; she never did. She knew self defense because of her father, but she wasn't going to make a scene more than it already was.

"Stop, 'Tasha."

Of course, she did and 'Tasha turned around and smiled seductively towards the male in front of her. Completely forgetting about the woman behind her. Tsuyahra sneered lightly, turning her eyes away from her in fear she'd lash. Turning to the left she walked over to a chair where her jacket was and grabbed it, throwing it over her shoulders and walking past all cubicles and to the elevator. Pressing the down button she just waited for it to come up to the top floor from the bottom.

Sighing, she let her hand brush over the small cuts on her face from that damned woman. Her eyes glared at the metal door in front of her, showing back her reflection at her. Seeing another figure walking calmly towards her, she turned around and looked at the male who stopped this 'Tasha woman from lashing out at her.

"Leaving?" He made it seem as if nothing had just happened. As if it was an everyday thing. His Jade eyes looked over Tsuyahra's figure. Her eyes caught him though. She was pissed, that much he could tell, but she was also mentally hurt. Not from 'Tasha but from something else. He wasn't going to ask… Not yet at least.

"I'm not wanted here anyways. I obviously don't fit in.." Her voice hell the annoyance tune, she turned her head away from him, arms crossing over her chest as if she was pouting. "…I told you I shouldn't have come. I get attacked by some preppy-whore-looking bitch who apparently likes you." She growled, not paying attention to what she had just said.

"You're not the only one who does fit in all that well. I may be Chairman, but everyone fears me." He closed his black-rimmed eyes for a moment, hearing the ding of the elevator and the opening of the heavy metal doors. No one was making a move towards it, not yet at least.

"Fears you?" She looked at him confused. Sure, he looked like the fighting type - and she had seen him fight, even if it was small - he could even be feared by the way he just glares at everyone for no reason whatsoever. She could seem him take in a deep breath, exhaling it through his parted lips.

"Yes. I used to be a fighter when I was younger. Got in trouble with the law and such due to things happening in my family." He paused, opening his eyes to look at Tsuyahra. "Everyone here knows what I've done, so their edgy and they know not to piss me off."

Tsuyahra could tell there was a lot more to that, but nonetheless she nodded her head, letting a soft sigh escape her lips. Using her right hand, she motioned to the still-opened doors of the elevator. "Wanna go to a bar or something?"

Gaara looked at her, confused. Why'd she want to go to a bar when there was alcohol here? Other than being out of place… and 'Tasha… and.. Yeah okay, he knew why she wanted to leave. And honestly, he did as well. Christmas parties weren't his thing anyways. Moving his let his right hand move to her lower back, as if to lead her into the elevator.

She blushed instantly from him touching her. It was a reaction with any good-looking guy and them touching her, even if it was a gesture of good-faith. Walking into the elevator, she watched as Gaara pressed the 'M' button, and the doors started to close. But, of course, something had to run towards the closing doors; shoe's flying off their feet.

Screeching, or screaming, Tsuyahra could really tell left the lips of the damned siren. Screaming that she was going to kill her for taking 'her Gaara away'. Tsuyahra sighed, letting her head lower lightly, as if she was fed up.

"She wont get far." Her eyes shifted towards Gaara, to see a smirk gracing his lips, as if he was interested. Tsuyahra shook her head, letting a small laugh leave her throat, now only finding it funny.

"You have interesting woman going after you, Gaara-san."

"Indeed I do."

-------------------------

"What can I get you two?" The waiter looked as if he was fifteen years old, a white apron adorning his waist, a pocket book in his hand before his bright green eyes shifted towards Tsuyahra. He instantly smiled, jotting something down on the pocket book, before looking at Gaara.

Gaara, telling him he just wanted whatever Tsuyahra is getting, waved it off and leaned back in the chair a little bit, trying to get more comfortable. His jade eyes watched as the male waiter-kid smiled again at Tsuyahra and waved at her before vanishing. Letting his eyes move to Tsuyahra, he silently asked what that was about.

She smiled, giggling lightly. "He's one of my sister's friends." Gaara looked at her, mildly confused.

"Sister?"

"Yes, Well, she's not biologically my sister, but I do consider her as such. We've known each other since we were in grade 5." She sighed lightly, shaking her head at the sudden barrage of memories. "I don't have any family left, or relatives so it's good if I have a really good friend. I practically live for her."

Gaara knew that feeling, he still had it really. Though, he couldn't actually consider Temari and Kankuro people to 'live for'. Gaara lived for himself; to annoy those who thought that he wouldn't get very far in his own life. A way to prove them utterly wrong. It was going very well actually. Nodding his head, his eyes moved towards the window, looking outside. It had finally started to snow. Christmas Eve… and it was snowing.

Snow here was rare, but it usually happened near Christmas anyways. Hearing a giggle of a sort, probably out of happiness, his eyes shifted back to the woman that was sitting acrossed from him.

"Snowing on my birthday… Well, I guess I could consider that a present." Tsuyahra smiled lightly, looking away from the window and towards Gaara.

"Today is your birthday?" He received a nod from the female. Had he actually paid attention to what she said a could of days ago, before he had left the shop. "Then, I guess the least I can do is pay for this dinner."

Tsuyahra's eyes widened. She shook her head, no. "No, Gaara-san, that's alright. I can do it. I don't want you to spend anymore money on me…" Gaara's hand silenced her, shaking his head lightly.

"Tsuyahra, if I feel like I want to spend my money, I will. Regardless of what you say. It is my money after all, and I can do what I please with it. Spending it on you is fine…"

"Here you go!" Tsuyahra was going to say something, but the Waiter had come back with food in his hands, handing them out of Tsuyahra and Gaara. The waiter raised his hand lightly, signaling a 'one minute'. Tsuyahra looked at him confused, before seeing people move behind him. Her eyes widened and she groaned, covering her eyes with her hands and letting her elbow's rest on the table, desperately trying to hide her embarrassment of what was to come.

Gaara, watching was she was doing, was confused before noticed at least ten to fifteen people come from behind the boy and started to sing 'Happy Birthday' to her. He smirked seeing the embarrassment coming from her. He swore, he never seen someone so embarrassed so have people sing 'Happy Birthday' to them. He could hear her sigh lightly, after they did some type of odd dance, and the boy placing a cupcake in front of her.

She sat up and looked at it, seeing that in the purple and pink frosting - which she had to stop herself from laughing - it said 'Happy Birthday/Merry Christmas, Yahra-chan.' How they actually fit everything on that small cupcake… was as if she was back in the old times when they created fire.

"Ah, what a birthday…"

------------------

Gaara and Tsuyahra walked side by side with each other. Not saying a word; only silence and the random cars driving by, the shooting and screaming of people, ironically enough it was peaceful. Tsuyahra had managed to steal Gaara's jacket from him, and was now practically snuggling against it as if it were her life-line. Looking at Gaara, he looked back, and she smiled lightly. His was odd, but it was small and hardly used.

Finally, the two came to her small ratting god-forsaken apartment, and blushed at the sight of it. Now that she took the time to look at it…. It was disgustingly small, ugly-looking and looked as ratty as hell. Tsuyahra sighed lightly, walking up the 10 steps and into the apartment. It was about three stories high, and she was on the second floor.

Both walked to the elevator, Gaara still following her. It was nice of him to continue to follow her, but it still felt odd. The hallway smelt as if it was burning and there was old milk laying on the floor and no one was cleaning it up. Tsuyahra had to hold her breath before walking into the elevator as it reached them. When Tsuyahra took a breath in through her nose, she had to cover her mouth and nose so, one she wouldn't throw up, and two, so she didn't take another breath in until she was in her apartment.

Gaara only gave her an odd look, smirking at her reaction. This smell didn't really bother him, but it was still pretty damned bad. Walking out of the elevator behind her, she came to a stop ten doors away from the Elevator ( He decided he should count, just in case ) and pulled out her keys.

She turned to Gaara, wanting to say Thank you, and good night, but her eyes widened at what had happened. She could see his face, literally millimeters away from her face, eyes staring back at her, narrowing in a way to make her comply. Of course, she did, she couldn't resist; but she kissed back lightly, Gaara pulled away, smirking at her flushed face.

"Happy Birthday, Tsuyahra. Goodnight." And with that, he turned and left. Not even bothering to look back at her, while she stood there just staring at his back, completely surprised.

He actually **_kissed_** her!

-------

R i d 3 r: Whoo! Sorry I haven't been updating everyday. Just… lazy really. But this is for today and tomorrow! So, now, Merry Christmas!

Emeralds Rose: You're really looking to get hurt. Just cause I had a damned Brain fart with spelling ETC with ECT doesn't mean anything! You ass, no merry Christmas for you.

SugarSnike: Distraction!? -looks- Where?!?! -Looks to see, your not there.- O.o. Hm… Odd… lmao, anyways; MERRY CHRISTMAS MY INSPRIATION!

Tainted-reflection-126: I didn't want to make it seem as though it **is** a fan fiction. A lot of people don't really put all that much realistic touch to it. Anyways, thank you for your review! Merry Christmas!

3Karen3: Since you said it'd be funny if they met, that's was the theme really for this story! Thanks! Merry Christmas!

LittleAngel22493: -jumps up and down with- I Did! I Did! I DID! Lmao, Merry Christmas! Thanks for the review!

****

AND TO EVERYONE ELSE, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

-Gives cake to everyone-


	7. Chapter 7

**Lithium**

**Chapter 7**

-----

Re-cap

"Happy Birthday, Tsuyahra. Goodnight." And with that, he turned and left. Not even bothering to look back at her, while she stood there just staring at his back, completely surprised.

He actually **kissed** her!

---------

Tsuyahra sighed, sitting on her couch staring at the small life-less tree that was half-assed decorated. There were no such thing as leaves, or pins of any sort on this tree. The tree was literally dead; but this was her very own Christmas tree. Tri-colored eyes just stared at it… as if it would suddenly turn huge and sparkle and there'd be a family surrounding her laughing and making fun of people. Throwing the wrapping paper in an attempt to shut the other up.

A light smile traced over her lips, remembering when she had a family to turn too; have fun with, but that was many, many years ago. The only thing that was under this three inch tree was a small box lightly wrapped with the limited amount of paper she could find in this apartment. Taking in a deep breath the woman gingerly reached out and touched the box, using the tips of her fingers to move into her palm, in an attempt to pull the small box towards her.

It wasn't working.

Sighing lightly, she propped herself up, using one arm and her crossed-legs before grasping the small box in her palm. Sitting back down, she let her legs move from underneath her and onto the cold seemingly wet floor before letting her fingers rip open the paper. She stared at the white box she had given to herself; acting wasn't going to get her far, so she just looked at it with a bored look.

Using her index finger she popped open the top and looked at the small pair of gauged earrings. She remembered the gauge, it was 8; the earrings itself was red and black, but twisted into one so it looked similar to a tornado. Sighing, she placed the box on the table and let her head lean back and rest against the couch, letting her eyes close.

- Flash back -

Both walked to the elevator, Gaara still following her. It was nice of him to continue to follow her, but it still felt odd. The hallway smelt as if it was burning and there was old milk laying on the floor and no one was cleaning it up. Tsuyahra had to hold her breath before walking into the elevator as it reached them. When Tsuyahra took a breath in through her nose, she had to cover her mouth and nose so, one she wouldn't throw up, and two, so she didn't take another breath in until she was in her apartment.

Gaara only gave her an odd look, smirking at her reaction. This smell didn't really bother him, but it was still pretty damned bad. Walking out of the elevator behind her, she came to a stop ten doors away from the Elevator ( He decided he should count, just in case ) and pulled out her keys.

She turned to Gaara, wanting to say Thank you, and good night, but her eyes widened at what had happened. She could see his face, literally millimeters away from her face, eyes staring back at her, narrowing in a way to make her comply. Of course, she did, she couldn't resist; but she kissed back lightly, Gaara pulled away, smirking at her flushed face.

- End flashback -

Opening her eyes she stared at the ceiling, letting her index finger trace her lips, as if it was an attempt to feel Gaara's lips against hers once more. But of course, the feeling would reach that far and she just laid down on the couch, letting her arms rest on her stomach. She didn't want to go to work today; she did, after all, need a day off. Christmas, as boring as it was right now, would be her day off. Tomorrow would be busy…

Absently she let her mind wonder to what Gaara was doing right now; probably sitting at work with that… person who had tried to fight with her last night. She vowed never to return to his work, ever again. She didn't want to see that 'Tasha person. She didn't really like her… okay that was an understatement.

The sound of knocking moved through the room, and Tsuyahra sighed, rolling herself off the couch, none-too-successfully landing on her knee's, but on her stomach hard, practically knocking the wind out of her. Gasping for air, she pushed herself up, letting her hand move over her chest before half-crawling and half-walking to the door. Letting her hand wrap around the cold metal doorknob she stood up, and twisted it.

She opened the door and went to greet whoever it was, but was thrown into a bone-crushing hug, before falling to the floor with someone on top of her. She gasped lightly, trying to figure out who's ambush her at the door, but after seeing dirty-blonde and her legs were almost out the door, she knew exactly who it was.

"Eh, Kayla-chan… Can't breath.." Tsuyahra let her voice come out in rasped gasps, trying as quickly as possible to get the taller female off her. Succeeding fairly quickly, she pushed herself up into a standing position, looking over this 'Kayla' person.

She was tall; taller than Gaara now that she realized it. Her hair, from the last time she had seen her, was longer. Reaching to about her waist. Her bright blue eyes danced with excitement; her brows furrowed lightly before relaxing. Her jeans were dirty from falling on the ground, her black spaghetti-strap visible behind her large puffy jacket - one that obviously was a lot of money. Yes, Kayla, was rich. Very rich indeed.

"Hey, 'Yahra-chan! It's been a while, ne, sis?"

Yes, Kayla was the sister she referred to when she was talking to Gaara last night. Tsuyahra nodded her head, walking over to the door and closing it so the stench didn't enter her home as much as it already did. Motioning to Kayla to sit down in the living room, she complied and Tsuyahra walking into the small kitchen putting the tea kettle on the stove and turning the stove on.

Moving over to a cabinet, she let her fingers glide over the cold metal handle, pulling at the door, watching it open before grasping two tea cups in her hands, setting them down on the counter and throwing in a tea bag for both cups. Turning, she walked back into the living room and sat down next to Kayla, who was taking off her jacket.

"So! Merry Christmas! How are you? What did you get! God! My birthday is in five days!" Kayla was hyper, that much Tsuyahra could tell. Well, hyper or she had gotten laid during the night. Sighing, Tsuyahra shook her head, leaning back in the couch.

"I'm fine, and all that I got was earrings for myself…" _And a kiss from Gaara._ Tsuyahra shook her head slightly, letting her eyes close for a moment before looking at Kayla, eyes half-closed.

"That's it? Well, I got…." And that was when she started to talk, and when Tsuyahra drowned her out easily, letting her eyes close and nodded whenever she felt like it. She loved her sister to death, but at times she managed to make herself known by talking to much, or acting preppy. Tsuyahra, of course, told Kayla of this, but she only brushed it off. Tsuyahra figured it was because of the people she hung around with when she had time.

She figured, when Kayla had no time, she came to visit her; or when she was in the area and even that was rare. Something moved through her chest, in an attempt to make her feel pain. She was lonely, as much as she hated to think that, she was. Sure she had a few friends, she had her sister, but slowly she wasn't becoming the sister she had thought she was.

'_I wonder what would happen if I killed myself…. Who'd mi--_' Tsuyahra stopped her train of thought. She didn't want to think of suicide. Suicide wouldn't get her anywhere's other than death. She remembered when she was younger, she had cut her wrists in an attempt to release the pain, but stopped after the second cut. It was pointless unless she was going to kill herself.

At that time, she had though her father would miss her if she died. She knew now, that that wouldn't have happened. He'd be happy; but if she did it now only people would hate her because she was stupid enough to pull such a stunt. Tsuyahra mentally sighed. She wanted to leave this life, for good… but she knew she wouldn't get very far.

If she left; she'd be killed. Physically, mentally and spiritually. There'd be no Tsuyahra left. Just and empty shell of what used to be there.

"…Oh, and I got a boyfriend!" Tsuyahra opened her eyes, finally returning to the conversation to look back at Kayla, who was smiling brightly. Tsuyahra smiled back and sat up properly, moving into her 'older-sister-mode'.

"Oh? Who's this? He doesn't hurt you, does he?" She heard her giggled and shaker her head, lightly slapping Tsuyahra on the shoulder.

"No! of course not. His name is Kankuro. Really nice guy. He works down the street from you… Yanno that really big building, really rich and such. I can't remember the name."

"How long have you two been together?"

Kayla paused, suddenly looking away as if she was ashamed. Sighing Tsuyahra placed her right hand on her shoulder, shaking her lightly. "I wont get mad…"

"Promise?" Kayla's voice was small.. Hardly did she ever seem as if something was bad, or if she was scared of Tsuyahra. Kayla's eyes watched as Tsuyahra nodded her head, and immediately she turned back into her old self. "Two years!"

Tsuyahra choked, on what? She didn't know. Two years she had someone, and never did she tell her? She was mad, but she had promised she wouldn't get mad at _her._ if she was face to face. Tsuyahra just laughed lightly, smiling as if nothing was wrong. "Well, that's good!"

"He's gonna ask me to marry him… Because, well…" She paused, fidgeting with her fingers before letting her hands rest on her stomach. "I'm pregnant!"

Tsuyahra's eyes widened at the news. Her younger sister, by five days… was pregnant. With a child… of some man she didn't even know face to face so she couldn't even judge him! Taking in a deep breath, she could feel the cool air circulate around her lungs, before moving out of her nose slowly.

"Congratulations, Kayla-chan."

---------

Tsuyahra sighed, shutting the door after Kayla had left. She threw her head against the door, closing her eyes. She wanted to cry; right then and there. Why did everyone have such good lives? Such good income from their job? Better families, boyfriends, soon-to-be husbands… Children? Everyone but her. She choked on her breath, her mouth opening to take in a deep, shuddering breath before exhaling as if she was in pain.

She collapsed against the door, falling onto her knee's before throwing her face into her hands, covering her eyes mouth and nose. Her hair framed around her face and hands as she leaned forwards, a small sob escaping her lips, tears already making their way past her eye-lids as she tried her best not to cry. She didn't want to; but it was going to happen regardless of how hard she tried.

She sat like that, for more than four minutes, face and hands wet, nose running as if she had a cold. Sniffling, even though it was practically futile, she sat up, using the door for help to stand up straight, she walked over to the small bathroom, grabbing a handful of toilet paper and blowing her nose. After finishing, she walked over to her skin, letting the water run before cupping a handful of water and splashing it over her face, in an attempted to wash away any tears that were there.

But it only created more… and more pain.

She collapsed once again, freely crying out as if someone would help her. She felt so weak… so alone. She wanted to just die. She really did. Leaning forwards she let her forehead rest against the cold floor of the bathroom, before letting her knee's move out from underneath her and drop her to her stomach, arms placing beside both sides of her head. Her eyes were blood-shot, and blurry. She couldn't really make out anything around her. Just the pastel white of the porcelain toilet in front of her.

-----------------

Gaara sighed, looking over paperwork for what was to come during the next couple of days. Something to deal with meetings, deals and other things that didn't really catch his interest. Getting bored with all the work and paper on his desk, he leaned back in his chair letting his mind absently run over what had happened this morning.

He had gotten a couple of presents from the whore's of the companies; a present that wasn't much from his older sister, Temari. A invitation to a wedding that Kankuro was having with some female named Kayla Tsuki on the second of January. Gaara's eyes glanced around his office. There was hardly anyone in today, and he didn't even know why he was here.

Probably just a habit of going to work.

Standing up from his desk, he figured, since it was noon anyways, that he would just leave work. Grabbing his jacket he threw it carelessly over his shoulders, and walked to the elevator and waited for it to reach the floor. Suddenly, as if something hit him in the face, he remembered that Tsuyahra had his other jacket. He had been complaining to himself last night her forgot the expensive jacket at the restaurant and even went back, only to see it wasn't there.

That jacket alone was about three hundred, and the suit itself was about five hundred. Stepping into the elevator, he'd have to go see Tsuyahra today; hopefully she wasn't busy with anything today so he didn't have to disrupt her. Exiting the elevator as it came to the main floor, he exited, getting random 'merry Christmas's' and other things he wasn't paying attention to.

Walking out the front door, he decided to walk to her house, figuring it was too much of a hassle to get to his car, drive on the street, find a parking spot near her house, go in, get his jacket, leave and find his window smashed in. He was irritated the last time that happened. So he decided to stick with the easier method. It was better for Global Warming! …Like he cared.

Letting his feet hit the ground, loud enough for him to hear he walked the couple of blocks to her house. He passed her shop, only to see that it was completely empty, a note was in the mailbox of the location. Deciding he should at least… be _nice_ on Christmas, he grabbed the envelope that was addressed to Tsuyahra. Of course, curiosity got him, and he opened the letter.

He knew he shouldn't be snooping around in people's business, or opening their mail; but it wasn't like he feared the law or anything. He could easily buy his way out. It was like he spend money as if he used hundred dollar bills to wipe his mouth clean after a head chef made his supper…. Come to think of it, he hated maid and servants… Shaking he head, he let his mind move onto the paper in front of him, his jade eyes reading over each word.

****

Tsuyahra

Your lucky that rich prick decided to step in and save your life. I promise you, you'll die.

Watch your back. Never know who'd jump out.

Gaara growled, stopping in his stride. Re-reading over the letter. So he was a rich prick, and she was going to die no matter what? Not as long as he knew Tsuyahra she wasn't going to die. He didn't really care about his feelings at this moment; his stomach was churning in guilt for stepping in, but in pride for saving her life. His heart beat was rapid against his ribcage. After knowing Tsuyahra for almost a week, the poor male figured out he was falling in love with her.

Of course, he didn't figure that out on his own. He had talked to Kankuro about suddenly being all nice to someone and taking care of her by bringing her to the hospital. Kankuro laughed at him for a moment, before getting Gaara's death glare. The older male just smile and patted his younger brother on the shoulder, laughing as he said..

"You're in love!"

Letting his feet move, he shoved the letter into his pocket. He arrived at the woman's apartment, walking up the steps and towards the elevator, only to see a female walk out and hit in him the shoulder, only to cause her to retract back.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" She paused, grasping her chest as if he gave her a heart attack. Gaara's shoulders only moved into a shrug that he didn't really care. He was mad, but he wasn't about to beat down a woman for running into him.

She eyed him, narrowing her eyes in confused. "Why are you here? You must have money if you can afford that suit…" She pursed her lips as if she was thinking.

"I'm here to see someone…" He didn't really want to talk to her, his head was starting to hurt.

"Maybe, 'Yahra-chan?" She seemed a little over-happy. "Aw, how cute. Are you two dating? Cause if you are, then she didn't even tell me!" She gasped.

"…No." He only gave her a bored look. How did she even know Tsuyahra?

"Oh… Well then. Doesn't matter. She's home so you can probably just walk in! Tah-tah!" She didn't even know who he was and she was telling him to just walk into Tsuyahra's house? What is wrong with people these days?

Gaara's eyes watched her leave, running out the front door before he entered the elevator and pressed the number two button. Waiting for about ten seconds, he watched the metal doors open before stepping out and walking down the hallway, counting till ten he went to go knock on the door only to hear sobs, as if someone was crying. Narrowing his eyes, he listened more, hearing the sound of something hitting the ground hard.

Growling, he opened the door and walked in, looking around the apartment, trying to figure out where Tsuyahra was. Moving into the living room, he spotted the bathroom, which had a light on, door wide open, and the echoing sounds of crying coming from there. He knew the crying coming from her lips. She was in pain. Not physically but mentally.

Did it have to deal with what that woman that bumped into him downstairs? Walking towards the bathroom, he came just in time to see her cover her face with her arms, letting her hair move over her face, blocking his view. Walking silently into the bathroom, he bent down and grabbed her shoulder, bringing her into a sitting position against his chest, before picking her up.

He heard her breathing hitch as he touched her, her head moving to look towards him, but he made it so she couldn't turn her face towards him. Of course, this caused her to try and get out of his grip, but he only muttered a 'stop' and she did so. Her right hand finding it way to his white dress-shirt clutching it tightly, as if it would take away the pain she was feeling.

He sat down on the couch, her face being buried into his chest, and she cried more, but it was muffled. He lets his arms encircle her, as he had seen done by Temari's boyfriend when she was upset about something and cried. Moving his right hand, he ran it through her hair, in a calm movement.

This was way to cliché for his liking.

Walk into an apartment, find a female crying, sooth her, and then the inevitable falling asleep after they stopped crying.

Tsuyahra didn't do that. She stopped crying, using the back of her sleeve to wipe her eyes before looking up at him.

-------------------

She laid sprawled out on the cold floor, her sobs still wracking her body as if it was an earthquake. Turning her head so that her arms covered her face and her hair blocked any view of light, she felt something touch her shoulder, before pulling her into a small embrace. She tensed, tears still falling from her eyes. She went to turn and look at who it was, but a hand was keeping her from moving her head. Feeling herself being lifted, she started to struggle to get out of the persons arms.

"Stop." She stopped instantly, knowing the voice. His voice held irritation and worry. For her? She doubted. Now, for some reason, being around him she didn't feel alone. She felt as if she had someone with her. A small, tiny smile graced her lips and let her hand grab a hold of his shirt tightly. The movement of sitting down motioned her to just throw her face into his chest and cry.

And she did so.

Though it was muffled, but she was crying. Her body tensed lightly when Gaara's arms moved around her, hugging her lightly before letting his hand run through her long hair. Slowly, her crying stop, but her shoulders still shook. Taking in a deep breath, she exhaled before pulling her face out of Gaara's chest and wiping her eyes with the back of her sleeves. After, she looked up at him.

"Gaara… W-why…?" She couldn't really finished her own sentence, a little embarrassed of what had just happened. Gaara's shoulders moved into a shrug, his Jade eyes boring into her tri-colored eyes.

"I came to get my jacket… Why were you crying?"

She shook her head lightly, not wanting to talk about it. Feeling it was a stupid thing to cry over. She let her eyes move away from his face, but his hand moved to the side of her face and turned her head towards him.

"Why?"

"I-I.. It's stupid…" She looked down, and Gaara only moved his hand a little bit, to get her to look back up at him. He was glaring by now, and she sighed shakily. "It's my sister… my family… my life. Everything.." She paused for a moment, closing her eyes and moving her face so that it wasn't facing Gaara.

"I just found out that my sister has been dating some guy named Kankuro for two years, and is pregnant and is getting married. And not knowing that made me feel as if she didn't really trust me; which lead to me thinking that 'what if I killed myself' stage. Then, thinking about Christmas and… it's very complicated and it's stupid… I'm just alone. To sum it all up… really." Her voice was above a whisper, Gaara, needing to strain his hearing just to catch onto what she was saying. A sigh escaped his lips, and she looked at him.

"It's not stupid, Tsuyahra, and your not alone…" He knew it sounded cliché but he didn't really care. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"Yeah…" She sighed softly. "It's just that, to me, everyone has better lives. Has everything they ever need. While I have to work so damned hard to even get one thing for myself, for Christmas."

"Everyone has to work hard, sometimes. Because some people have a lot of money doesn't mean they have the best of lives. They usually lose all friends they get and become conceded."

"..Or extremely preppy, and can't make time for you at all.." She shook her head lightly.

"I bumped into someone when I was coming up here. She's tall… Blondish hair.."

"…You saw Kayla-chan?" She looked surprised, it was over ten minutes ago that she left. She watched him nod. "She's my sister…"

"Eventually, she'll be my own sister-in-law." Gaara sighed, as if he dreaded it.

"Wait… what do you mean?" It seemed as though all of her sadness vanished, easily. She sat up better, so she could look at Gaara properly.

'Kankuro is my older brother… Their planning the wedding for January second…" He watched her eyes flash sadness at the date. Did she not know? "…She didn't tell, or invite you, did she?" He watched her shake her head, sighing she lowered her head, moving back to her depression.

"She probably just wants to make my life worse and find things out for myself an--"

"She probably doesn't even know the date, so don't jump to conclusions. Kankuro is one to rush things and get everything done as fast as possible. But, Tsuyahra; you really need a new job. If you want I can help you--"

"No." She looked up at him, shaking her head. "no, I don't want you to. I don't want you to save me from my own purgatory. I'll find my own way out of it… no matter how hard it is."

"Tsuyahra, you wont get far. You need to let others help you." Gaara was a bit taken back by himself. Why did he care so much for this woman who was still sitting on his lap?

Tsuyahra sighed softly. "You… don't have any connections to the music industry.. Do you?" He looked at her confused, Tsuyahra smiled lightly.

"My sister, Temari does. Why?"

"I want to become a singer, solo Artist…"

"A singer?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I have always wanted to be in the music business for my whole life… Why do you think I put up a shop that sells music?"

He knew it was rhetorical, but shrugged his shoulders. Temari had her ways with the music industry ever since she started to date her boyfriend, Shikamaru who was in a popular band with one of his good friends, Naruto.

"Do you have a demo tape?" Tsuyahra's eyes brightened, as if it just made her day, and she nodded, moving herself off Gaara's lap and disappeared into a room, a couple of things moving before she came out, holding a disk in front of him, so he could take it. Now that he looked over her body, she looked horrible, but fine - which didn't even make since to him.

Standing up, he grasped the cd from her hands, now standing in front of her, practically towering over her short form. Smirking lightly, he lowered his head and brought his lips over hers. She tensed, fingers stretching out as if to grab onto something. He was kissing her, again…

If she could have smiled, she would have, but her lips were occupied by another's as she returned the kiss, her arms moving to wrap around his neck and pull him closer to her. His kiss brought shocks to her body; made her forget why she was upset in the first place… why she ever thought she was alone.

His tongue moved over her bottom lip, as if asking for entrance, and her being in her hazed-mind state, she agreed, opening her mouth a little bit for him to slide his tongue into her mouth. Their tongue battled to see who would win and she was losing. This was actually her very first 'French kiss', the kiss her gave her last night, was her first kiss.

She was enjoying this more than she knew she should have, but he tasted to damned good for her hold back. She leaned into him lightly, earning a groan from his throat. His right hand snaked it's way around her waist bringing her closer to his body, as if he was begging for more warmth.

Breaking away from their kiss, Tsuyahra panted lightly, face slightly flushed. She licked her lips, and Gaara smirked, taking that as an indication that she had liked it. Her arms were still wrapped around his neck, and his arm was still wrapped around her waist as if they were suddenly going to burst into a slow dance, and a ball would float down from the ceiling and start spinning bright lights… If only.

Tsuyahra blushed more, pulling away from him slowly. She didn't know what to do, after that, so she stayed quiet.

"I need to leave… Tsuyahra… I'll see you soon." Gaara turned to leave, only to be stopped by her grabbing his arm lightly. He looked back at her.

"Wanna go… for lunch.. Tomorrow?"

"Is that a date?"

Tsuyahra smiled, then laughed lightly. "Think it whatever you want." Gaara smirked and nodded, and left the apartment, leaving Tsuyahra to stare at the door, and Gaara to forget his jacket, once again.

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R i d 3 r: Well! There, look, a present for all of you! I got bored.. So I wrote this up. Pretty long on my part… my wrist hurts! ANYWAYS.

3karen3: Thanks!

All.My.Sorrows: Lmao, I loved your review. Ah, I wish I could strangle the 'Tasha that is used in real life… She deserves it. -smiles- Thanks for the review.

LittleAngel22493: Ehehe, thank you!

Gaara's Pyro RACCOON: I feel as though your gonna jump out of no where's and kill me!

Merry Christmas/ Chanukah/ Kwanza, and anything else, I can't remember! Sorry!


	8. Chapter 8

( Say Goodbye to T, and Hello to M! )

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****

Lithium

Chapter 8

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Re-Cap

"Wanna go… for lunch.. Tomorrow?"

"Is that a date?"

Tsuyahra smiled, then laughed lightly. "Think it whatever you want." Gaara smirked and nodded, and left the apartment, leaving Tsuyahra to stare at the door, and Gaara to forget his jacket, once again.

---------------

Tsuyahra sighed she had completely forgot to ask where to meet Gaara for lunch… The young woman had been sitting outside the apartment for about thirty, thirty-five minutes. She had decided she didn't just want to sit in her apartment and stare at a black screen that showed her reflection back at her for the rest of the day. She managed to lose her electricity from not 'paying' the bills. Which, she could have plainly remembered paying the landowner.

He just wanted to ruin her life more. Asshole.

Sighing, she adjusted her sitting position a little bit, her feet planted on the stair just underneath the one she was sitting on. Placing her left elbow on her knee, she finally placed her chin in the palm of her hand, letting her head rest comfortable, before her arm gave out and slipped from it's position on her knee. Catching herself, she sighed and let her legs stretch out, hearing a nice 'crack' to indicated she managed to crack both knee's at once.

"Mommy! Look, look!" Tsuyahra's eyes looked to the left of her, eyeing a young child probably around five years old who was running around wildly as if he had never seen anything before in his life. Tsuyahra smiled lightly - she could remember being like that, before having her brother punch her in the arm every time she ran in front of the family.

"Ah! Please calm down hunny. Mommy can only go so fast!" The older woman, obviously the mother looked a little bit too young to have a child. She looked eighteen at the most. Tsuyahra sighed, girls these days think that kids grow on tree's, or are like toys. At a young age sometimes a girl would want a baby, and think it would be the best thing to ever happen to them, and that it would be easy…

Tsuyahra didn't have a child, nor did she plan on having one, she knew that it was hard work and you just can't throw kids away like they were toys you played with for about five minutes before tossing it aside and looking for something else to play with… God, that annoyed her.

"Tsuyahra, I need that payment." The voice of a male, obviously older and very deep sounded from behind her. Sighing, Tsuyahra stood up and turned around and looked up at him. Of course, he looked as if he was about to swallow her whole if she said something to even remotely make him mad. He was a large man, probably about 320 pounds to say the least; his belly was shown and his fat was hanging over his belt buckle, which look as if it was going to burst any minute.

"I paid you a week ago. I'm not paying you again! I work hard for my money." She was worried he was going to say something that was literally going to put her in the dark. The way he was pausing and his dark, hazel eyes stabbed into her. A small sadistic smirk crossed his lips.

"Then, if you wont pay up, you can fuck me." He sounded so sure, even letting his huge arms move to cross over what large… chest there way. Her eyes widened, and she took a step down the stairs, staring at him as if he was just about to kill her.

"N-no! I'm not a whore!" Again, she took another step down, eyes wavering slightly, an image of her ex flashed through her mind and she closed her eyes, lowering her head lightly. Taking in a deep breath, she exhaled it slowly, before a startled gasp of air cut through her lungs feeling someone's fingers press against her shoulder and roughly push her back, causing her to stumble before stopping and coming into contact with something really hard…

Rubbing the back of her head, she turned to look at what had stopped her, sadly, it was only a telephone poll. Groaning lightly, she stood up and came face to face with bright white skin and a body being pressed against her, cutting off any and all means of her breathing. Struggling she started to kick and knee whatever she could possibly hit - seeing as how it wasn't really hard not to - only to hear him groan as if he was getting 'excited'.

"Mmmh, I can picture you in my bed… chained to it, bra and undies on!" The man laughed, rubbing against her as if it would spontaneously turn her on. She groaned, gagging as if she was going to throw up. Her hands tried to push him off her. Never in her own life, and through the things she has gone through, had she felt so damned useless.

She whimpered lightly, feeling his right hand brush over her breasts, grabbing her shirt tightly as if he was going to rip it off her in one swing. The man grinned darkly, ripping the front of her shirt open to reveal her black laced bra. The male smiled at what his eyes was seeing; the woman underneath/pinned was still trying to push him away.

Why the hell wasn't anyone helping!? So apparently, it's normal to be rapped on the street, or sexually harassed in broad daylight no less? The hell is wrong with this world?

The small laugh that escaped the males throat was possessive, dark, horny all mixed into one. He was excited, and she could feel his male appendage rub against her thigh. The woman whimpered again, feeling disgusted. She wasn't going to cry, she didn't want to seem submissive towards him and give him what it is he wanted.

"Lemme see those legs of yours, woman!" His hands reached down to her pants, and started to undo them, her eyes narrowed and quickly, she brought her knee up and came into contact with his face, a loud 'crack' indicated that she broke his nose. She whined in pain from the hit, but the male finally stumbled back and she backed up away from anything that she could be suddenly pinned to. A small crowd had started to form around them, all eyes on her.

"H-how **_dare _**you do that to me! What gives you the right to do that!?" She was mad. But she wasn't going to explode into a swearing fit… Well, not right this moment at least. She seethed lightly, grasping her ripped shirt and folding it so that it didn't show her bra anymore; but she looked as if she as shy of showing her body, but her eyes were narrowed dangerously… Things from Gaara were rubbing off her.

"Damn you! How dare you ruin my nose!" The male wailed hand still holding his bleeding nose standing up as straight as he could manage before running all 320 pounds towards her. She swore she could have felt the ground shaking as he ran.

Eyes widened, she took steps back, the crowd easily dispersing from behind her, obviously not wanting to be in the path of the large man. She let her eyes quickly roam around, and as she looked back, she was throw to the ground, the male back on top of her, quickly trying to remove her clothes. All air in her came out force, and she started to cough and gag, some food from earlier finding it's way out of her mouth and onto the male.

He was going to rape her, and she wasn't going to be able to do anything, the bastards around her was just gonna stand there and watch what the hell was going on. Her eyes started to turn black from the corner's, her mind was screaming at her to move as much as she could, her body could barely move and inch with him now sitting on her chest, crushing almost all of her ribs.

Cracking followed as he moved up a little, causing a scream to leave the woman's mouth. Blood following indicating something had obviously been punctured. Closing one eye, she tried as best as she could to scratch at him, but he only ignore it, growling lightly in her ear as his slid his fingers into her jeans and over entrance sharply.

She cried out, not in pleasure - god help her if she did - but in pain. She didn't want to be touched; she didn't want this happening, she wanted someone to help her. Anyone would have done. Hell, Tai could have helped her she didn't care. She started to caught, water started to brim her eyes, the pain was getting way to much for her; it felt as if her heart was stuck in a vice-grip and someone was slowly closing it on her, to torture her.

She was gonna die if he didn't get off her chest; it only took two minutes for her to pass-out if her breathing was blocked, four minutes for her brain to start to die, and eight minutes would be she'd be brain dead… She was royally fucked, as some people say.

"S-stop… Le-et me go…" Her voice came out small, barely audible, her voice was extremely strained. Her voice coming out like the old people who were in the hospital saying their final, and last words before passing away in the bed.

The male grinned, inserted three fingers right away into her entrance and she screamed as best as she could, but it only came out as a whimper. She was fading, and fading fast.

"She said to stop."

…And that was when everything went black.

----------------------

He growled at what he was seeing before him. He had been walking to Tsuyahra's house, to pick her up for lunch only to come acrossed this little scene that caused all anger, all hate to boil up inside of him; as if he was the mad little boy from ten years ago. The one who'd get into trouble every other day with the law, get into fights.

His jade eyes narrowed dangerously.

He was walking past people who just stood there as if nothing was happing, like a fight between two teen's just broke out. He managed to shove people from in front of him, out of the way and made his appearance at the front. The two figures he saw before him… cause what was raging inside of him this moment. Some extremely over-weight male, no shirt on was on top of Tsuyahra's chest, most likely breaking every rib she had on her ribcage.

She had blood and puke stains on the side of her mouth, her hands trying to scratch at the male to get off her; her screaming dulled by the lack of air she was receiving.

"S-stop… Le-et me go…"

The male, obviously didn't listen to her, and had done something to cause her to scream out in pain. His aura was deadly; everyone around him had backed up, not wanting to be around him in fear he'd lash. This male was going to die; he didn't care if he had to go to jail for the night, he was going to die for what he was doing to her.

"She said to stop." His voice was strained as best as he could managed it, trying to sound as casual as possible, but it was obvious he was pissed. The male looked up from what he was doing, and grinned, as if to ask him 'what are you going to do about it?'

He didn't even need to say a word, or even use all that much strength to push the male off Tsuyahra's chest and into the wall to the left of them, the sound of cracking from the bricks, shattering from glass and the scream of pain from the male.

'Kill him… he deserves it.' His little voice came back, demanding, harsh and forward. He didn't even have to listen to the voice to tell him what to do, he was going to do it anyways. Trying to grasp his neck as best as he could, but his damned fatty folds were getting in the way, he slammed him into the wall again, successfully breaking through the structure, and both males vanished into the building.

The sounds of sirens could be heard, and the sounds of punching, shattering of any glass object came from the large hole in the wall. The small group outside had looked at each other, not saying a word, but they knew what was happening inside.

"Break it up! Now!" The sound of a male stepped into the whole, gun drawn, hat tilted to the side from accidentally hitting a rouge brick upon entering. His police uniform seemed dust-free. Gaara didn't stop though; he kept going.

---------------------

Everything seemed as if it was a dream, but looking at his bloody hands, he knew it wasn't. It seemed as if he was sleepwalking, but he knew better. He had beat the living shit out of the male who had tried to hurt Tsuyahra, the one who tried to hurt what was _his_. No one would have gotten away with it.

"So you've come to?" A voice broke through his thoughts, causing what little barrier of self-respect that was there, vanishing like a house going up in flames.

"Temari. What do you want?" His jade eyes moved from his hands up to the face of his sister who was standing on the other side of the metal bars, that were seemingly rubber. The look on her face was on of disappointment, but he was used to the face coming from her. He'd see it every time he was in here. He felt as if he was a teen once again. The older woman sighed.

"I've come to get you out. They aren't placing any charges against you, seeing as how you were defending that woman. But, they need a statement from her to see what actually happened…. She's in the hospital, in surgery." She had paused, only to see her younger brother open his mouth, but she knew what he was going to say. She smiled lightly, the officer finally opening the door and reluctantly Gaara stood up and exited the bars.

Closing his black-rimmed eyes, he slowly opened them and started to walk away, not even a thanks thrown his sister's way. He needed to check on Tsuyahra… And see if she was alright after what had happened. Exiting the building, he walked down the sidewalk, towards the hospital.

"Nothing better have happened. She better not have died…" He sounded desperate, as if he was pleading that nothing had happened to Tsuyahra. She meant something to him, even though he knew her for a short time - it seemed her knew her years. She was precious to him… And no matter what anyone would say, she'd be his… one way or another.

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R i d 3 r: Sorry! I'm sorry for updating so late. I just really haven't paid much attention to anything lately. Anyways, I was so damned happy I got so many reviews for the last chapter! Hopefully, I'll see just as much this chapter. Uhm, anyways about this chapter, I know it seems odd, but hell! It's crucial!

As for the last chapter, when he sister visited her, and didn't bring anything for her birthday, it'll be explain later! So it's sort of like a hint as to what is gonna happen.

Gaara's Pyro RACCOON: I updated!

LittleAngel22493: Yes, but you'll see soon! -nods- Thanks for reviewing again.

HinataHyuuga ImShyNotScared: but! If you kill me who's gonna finish this story!?

SugarSnike: Finally! And I don't like you anymore for not doing so! -cries- I'm kidding. I loveded you! But… being held hostage.. By a penguin… Wow, scary.

3karen3: I don't think I'm the best writer in the world… there are others! The more enemies, the better, I say.

All.My.Sorrows: Erg, long review. Awesome! Lmao! Got mad at a bee? I got mad at a bee once. (Mind you, between us, when I was even writing this, I got teary eyed. ;.;)

Tainted-reflection-126: I love your reviews, they make me so happy to know that I'm actually doing something right in the descriptions and such! Thank you so much!

XXUrbanRegalityXx: He deserves to be jumped, As, soon! Soon! I promise! Thanks for reviewing!


	9. Chapter 9

**Lithium**

**Chapter 9**

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Re-cap

…"Nothing better have happened. She better not have died…" He sounded desperate, as if he was pleading that nothing had happened to Tsuyahra. She meant something to him, even though he knew her for a short time - it seemed her knew her years. She was precious to him… And no matter what anyone would say, she'd be his… one way or another.

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Gaara had been sitting in the waiting room staring at the floor as if it was about to open up and swallow him whole. As far as he knew, Tsuyahra had been in surgery for about six hours since he was throw in a cell for beating the living shit out of the man who tried to molest her in front of her home with people watching. Apparently the man had died a couple of hours into his surgery on the operating table. Good… He deserved much more.

The sound of a door slamming and footsteps running into the room followed by the gasping of a male and a small sob from a female, Gaara looked up to see his older brother and fiancé. She looked as if she had been hit by a car, her hair was poofy and her eyes were wide.

"G-Gaara, where is Tsuyahra-chan? What happened to her?" She was worried, a lot. Her eyes were frantic, body was shaking as Kankuro had took hold of her shoulders and pressed her against his chest, letting his chin rest on her head.

"She's in the operating room…" Gaara couldn't bring himself to sound remotely cold, and he didn't know why. He was pissed beyond hell, yet worried for her safety. Letting his black-rimmed eyes close, he took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly, letting the air from his lungs drain until requesting more air. "She was almost rapped."

"What!? How could she…? There's no way she'd allow that! She went though that phase! S-she…" Kayla was mumbling now, letting the tears fall from her eyes and burring her face into her fiancé's chest.

Gaara's eyes opened, looking back at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing he had ever laid eyes on. A phase… of what? Of being rapped? Gaara didn't know, but he wasn't going to push the question to an already hysterical woman.

-------

It had been about two more hours before a doctor finally came out to greet the three people in the waiting room. Gaara upon noticing him stood up and immediately asked how she was, but the doctor waved him to sit down before he took a seat himself. His eyes weren't looking directly at Gaara until he finally got the courage to speak.

"She has many punctures to her lungs and heart. We managed to get the worse of the punctures done, her ribs should heal fine… That is.." The doctor paused, letting his hand fidget before clasping them together, "…If she lives through the night. She's very critical. It'll be a miracle even if she awakes. But, if she does live there might be problems with her walking. A shard of her bone had managed to lodge itself into her spinal cavity. Only time can tell…" The Doctor stood up, Kayla immediately standing.

"Can we see her?" She was still crying, but her voice was strong. Hands clasping tightly onto Kankuro's.

The doctor nodded, waving his hand to tell them to follow. Walking down a couple of halls and into a room that only held one bed, the doctor turned around and face the three of them. "Do not try and wake her. Visiting hours will be done in about fifteen minutes…" And with that, he left leaving only a couple of nurses and the three of them..

Kayla, being the first to react ran over to Tsuyahra. Her eyes widened at the way she looked. She had the tubs coming out of her throat obviously helping her breath, her face was extremely pale and she had black-like circles around her eyes. The beating of the heart monitor wasn't sound too good, as if her heart would suddenly give up at that moment. Kayla's hand moved to touch her face and pulled her hand back at the feel of her skin.

"She's… so cold.." Kayla sighed softly letting her eyes close and lowered her head. The two males standing by the door didn't make a move. Gaara just stood there as if the very life he had was sucked out from him and left a lifeless body to take his place.

_'If only I had walked faster… if only…'_ Gaara growled under his breath, watching as Kayla just ran past him crying her eyes out; Kankuro immediately following after her, leaving only himself and Tsuyahra. Slowly, he let his feet move; but it was so slow as if he was stuck in some type of crazy glue and was slowly making his was out of it only to step and get stuck again.

He managed to make it over to her bed, letting his hand grasp onto hers, and as Kayla had said, she was cold. Extremely cold. Gaara's eyes narrowed at the white sheets of the bed, eyes glancing over the tubes to help her breath. She looked worse than she did when he beat the shit outta the person who tried rapping her. She'd be scarred for life… if she awoke…

"Tsuyahra… Stay alive… For me…" Gaara's eyes softened, a moment that would probably only reach him and possibly her at one point. He let his hand squeeze hers lightly, as if to tell her he was there and she would be fine. His eyes suddenly widened as his eyes slid down to her hand, breath catching in his throat.

…She squeezed back.

-----------

"It's truly a miracle… Really, I never expected her of living the night she got here, let alone this long." The doctor, now apparently know as Doctor Yurha Setsu, gasped at the sight he was seeing. Tsuyahra was sitting up on the bed, obviously being propped up on the bed, the breathing tube was out of her mouth and her throat, indicating she can breath on her own.

"She's only been out for about a week and a half. If she survived that night wouldn't it mean that she would have survived anyways?" A nurse in training asked, holding a clip-board in her hands, white lab coat moving around lightly as she wrote down some things. Her long blue hair falling into her eyes but she dismissed it.

"There are possibilities, but, usually if one lives the night after a critical surgery such as hers the percentage of living goes up about two percent. She's got the side of God with her… Unless it's the strength she has from people who come to see her." The male smiled lightly, letting his chocolate brown eyes soften at the little moment he saw the when she was practically on her death-bed. The male that had been with her…

"I see, so does this mean she can walk? You did say she had something lodged into her spine." The female nurse looked up from her work, purple eyes glancing at the male doctor. The doctor's shoulders moved into a position where he'd shrug.

"Now that's what I'm going to see now, Rei-chan!" The older male laughed lightly and walked into the room, greeted by the smell of morphine and blood. Walking over to the side of the bed, he smiled at the woman, and let his fingers move to grasp the stethoscope around his neck, letting the two black bulbs fit into his ears and letting the small round metal touch Tsuyahra's chest. "Alright, take in a deep breath…"

Tsuyahra let the air move through her nose, but it was slow and it was painful, but she exhaled through her mouth, repeating a couple of times before the Doctor finally pulled away. He smiled lightly, before moving down to where her feet were. Raising the sheets over her feet, he looked up at her. "Can you move your feet?"

Nodding Tsuyahra let her toes wiggle, indicating right away to the doctor she'd be able to walk. Even though it was something small to do - to wiggle your toes - but it was a huge thing in neurology. The doctor then nodded to her hands and she flexed her fingers. The Doctor smiled again and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Well! God must be on your side, young lady!" The doctor laughed lightly. "You might have some complications like pain, trouble breathing and trouble sleeping. Of course it's part of the 'road to recovery'. Once your ribs start to heal properly we'll send you home."

Tsuyahra nodded lightly, smiling to the male. "Thank you… so much." The doctor just blushed lightly and waved it off. "Alright, Tsuyahra, I must go make my rounds." Then the Doctor left, along with the nurses, leaving her alone in the room. She closed her eyes and let her head rest against the hard white bed. Images of what had happened to her, floated into her mind and her eyes shot open. She didn't want to think of that… But.. Who had gotten the landowner off her?

Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, trying to figure out who it was. The sound of the voice running through her mind as if she was trying to remember. It was slightly distorted because she had been slowly passing out with the male on top of her.

_"She said to stop."_ ….Who the hell was it?! She growled lightly to herself, only to stop immediately and wince at the pain that was coursing through her body._ "Ow…"_ She better not have had amnesia… God she hoped she didn't.

"Tsuyahra-chan! Your awake!" The sound of a female's voice rang through the room, and Tsuyahra turned and looked towards the door, only to see her sister standing in the door frame holding a bag of some sort, her eyes wide and surprised to see her awake and sitting on the bed, looking at her. Her eyes had the black-bags around her eyes, indicating she hadn't gotten sleep because she was worried.

"Eh, Kayla-chan… Hey.." Her voice was weak, but it was to be expected. Kayla was about to run and glomp her but something held her back.

"Kayla, you'll kill her if you were to hug her." The males voice was deep, obviously older than Tsuyahra herself. But damn, the male was taller than Kayla… And Kayla was tall! The male had brown hair, a some type of painting on his face… She didn't know what it was and wasn't going to ask.

"But.. Kankuro-kun…" So, he was her fiancé and Gaara's older brother? Odd… "Oh right! Tsuyahra-chaaaaann!" Kayla managed to pry herself out of Kankuro's grip and over to her bed. "Guess what! Guess what!?" Kayla didn't manage to give her enough time to speak. "Our wedding is soon! Like, a month soon!" She squealed. "And, your going to be my maid of honor!" Kayla spun around, earning odd looks from both Tsuyahra and Kankuro.

"Really? Hopefully in a month I'll be better…" Kayla glared at her.

"Damn right you better be!"

Tsuyahra laughed lightly, earning a groan of pain before relaxing. "I'll see what I can do… Oh, can I sing at your wedding?" At the mention of singing at her wedding, Kayla looked at Tsuyahra, eyes wide.

"Oh! Can you sing _Lithium_!? Please! I love that song! Please, please!?" Kayla was now clasping her hands, eyes filled with stars, Tsuyahra nodded her head and she practically passed out of all the excitement she was getting. "Yes! Well, Yahra-chan! We must go find a place for the wedding, alright? I'll come see you tomorrow! Bye!" And with that she left, pulling Kankuro with her.

"You think she'd be fine by herself, Kayla?" Kankuro seemed a bit worried, trying to pry himself out of his fiancé's grip.

"I didn't set your Brother up with her for no reason!" Kayla laughed lightly. "The note was all my idea, and getting 'Tasha to go wasn't hard. And hiring that man to 'threaten her' and pull her out of the shop was also mine! But… he wasn't supposed to break her jaw…" Kayla sighed softly. Yes, Darious going after Tsuyahra was her idea, setting up a little 'date' with 'Tasha was also hers. Kayla had told Tsuyahra when she was about 20, that eventually for her birthday she was going to get her a man… And she was almost there.

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"No, I don't want to eat that… Hospital food is gross! I'd rather starve to death, than eat that!" Tsuyahra was having a really hard time with her supper, the nurses were trying desperately to feed the woman who was simply refusing to eat the soup that they had gotten her… Tomato soup.. Seriously, who eats tomato soup when their sick or wounded badly? Tsuyahra sure as hell didn't.

After about five minutes more of fussing like a baby, the nurses gave up and left the woman alone. Tsuyahra just sighed softly, finally getting the peace she wanted. She let her tri-colored eyes glance out the window of the hospital room. The sky was slowly turning into colors of the sunset, indicating it was going to be night soon. The flicker of a bright light caught her eye, and she saw it was a Mc Donald's sign, and she practically drooled for the food she wanted from there… Mc Donald's was evil, trying to make people in the hospital starve for their food. Bastards.

A figure suddenly appeared in the window, showing her who was standing at the door, holding a bag hat was white. Tsuyahra turned her head to look at who it was, and instantly she smiled. "Hey, Gaara." Gaara gave a small, force smile before walking over to the bed, taking off his jacket and letting it rest against the chair.

"Heard you were making a big commotion with the food… Here.." Gaara lifted his arm that was holding a white bag, and Tsuyahra would have hugged him right then and there, had she had goon bones to actually support her properly.

"Oh… I love you so much…" Of course it was something like an expression, Gaara's eyes looked at her, trying to find some seriousness in it. But, she was just extremely happy to have fast food.

"How are you feeling, Tsuyahra?" Tsuyahra, after unwrapping a burger, looked up at him and let her shoulders move in a small shrug.

"Can't laugh much… Hurts to breath too deeply… but other than that, I'm fine… Other than…" She let her eyes move away from his and looked at her lap. "I can't get what happened out of my mind… And I keep having someone say 'she said to stop' in my head, but I can't make out who it was…"

Gaara looked at her, seriously. "It'll take time for it to leave. But, it was me who said that, Tsuyahra…" He watched her eyes widened and she looked up at him. "I should have walked faster to get you… but I took my time… If I had hurried, this wouldn't have happened, and you would--"

"--Stop. Gaara, it's fine. You didn't know, and I didn't know it was going to happen. I… Guess what happened, happened, and there isn't anything we can do to change it. But I'm alive, aren't I? I stayed alive because you asked me too…" Tsuyahra smiled when Gaara's eyes widened. "I was awake… Just couldn't move much…"

"You heard me?" She nodded lightly.

"If I didn't, I would have squeezed your hand back, anyways… You're the first guy to actually care about me, as much as you do. Even though we only known each other for, what? About three weeks? I really like you, Gaara. You may have your own flaws, but I do too, and ironically it all works out for the both of us." She smiled again, a bright smile, one ( that to Gaara ) seemed as if she was an angel.

Gaara just shook his head lightly, pushing her hand to the hamburger that was getting cold.

"Eat, Tsuyahra."

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R i d 3 r: Whoo. Uhm, now… yeh nothing to say.

dark Alley: Thank for the review!

LittleAngel22493: He died! I wasn't going to leave him alive.. Tch, not for doing that. The bastard.

Gaara1Love: I updated…

3karen3: I guess I can move her in with Gaara. I'll use that.

Tainted-reflection-126: If only he had Chakra in this story. ( I find in a lot oh AU he's got all his chakra and such… I find it unrealistic. ) As for the romantic dinner, that you obviously want so badly, I'll add it in, for ya. Anyways, thanks for reviewing!


	10. Chapter 10

**Lithium**

**Chapter 10**

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Re-cap

"If I didn't, I would have squeezed your hand back, anyways… You're the first guy to actually care about me, as much as you do. Even though we only known each other for, what? About three weeks? I really like you, Gaara. You may have your own flaws, but I do too, and ironically it all works out for the both of us." She smiled again, a bright smile, one ( that to Gaara ) seemed as if she was an angel.

Gaara just shook his head lightly, pushing her hand to the hamburger that was getting cold.

"Eat, Tsuyahra."

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Tsuyahra sighed. This hospital was making her sick. She didn't like the whole bright-white room to blind her in the mornings when she woke up. She had been stuck here for the past week, and her ribs had finally started to heal properly, and it didn't hurt as much to laugh or move around like it did before; thus meaning she was able to go. . . home.

"Home. . ." Tsuyahra said this slowly, as if she was drawing it from some type of strength.

Gaara - who had been beside her when the Doctor finally announced she could leave - let his jade eyes shift over to her, seeing her reaction of the mention of her going 'home.' Gaara, feeling guilty though not showing it, nodded to the doctor, holding his hand out to shake the older males hand. "Thanks." The doctor just smiled and waved it off.

"It's my job to help people. Especially cute ones too!" The male laughed heartedly, letting his hand rest on Tsuyahra's shoulder. "Anyways, be safe. And remember take only 1 dose of morphine a day until the pain subsides. I really don't want you getting addicted to the stuff. It's pretty powerful, and like all medicines if you take too much your body will become immune to it. So switch from Morphine one day and to Advil or something the next. Alright?"

Tsuyahra nodded lightly, slowly moving her body out of the bed as one of the nurses wheeled in a wheelchair. Gaara's hands move from his side to grasp lightly onto Tsuyahra's arm, helping her stand up and places her gently in the wheelchair, where she adjusted herself so she could be seated better. "Thanks, Doctor, I really appreciate it."

"Ah, anyways, I must go take care of other patients. Bye, Tsuyahra!" And with that, the doctor left, Gaara settling himself behind the wheelchair and pushed Tsuyahra out of the door and down the halls.

"Gaara. . . I don't want to go back home. . ." She looked back at Gaara, to see him nod before looking down at her.

"I know. You can stay with me." Tsuyahra's eyes widened when he said that, and immediately she shook her head, about to say no, but Gaara silenced her. "I wont take 'no' for an answer, and I know you don't have the money for a hotel or a motel. Anyways, my house is big enough for about ten people. So stop worrying as stop saying 'no' when someone is trying to help you." Gaara sighed lightly, stopping in his stride for the large doors to open and walking outside, down the sidewalk and into the parking lot where his car was parked.

Walking to the right side of the escalade, he opened the door, letting his hands move to grasp Tsuyahra's arms once again. She had to help herself up because he wasn't going to do all the work himself and struggle with her for no reason. It took a minute, but she finally managed to stand up. She shook her head when Gaara was going to help her into the Car.

"I just need to stand for a moment. . . " Gaara nodded his head, slowly letting his hands move away from her arms, standing close to her incase her legs decided to give out. He watched her take in a deep breath through her nose, wincing slightly, before exhaling. He knew she didn't want to seem weak in his eyes; but through what's she's been through. . . well anyone would envy her strength to not get upset about almost being rapped.

Gaara's eyes instantly narrowed at the images that decided to bombard his mind. The way the male was on top of her. . . Smiling as if he done that everyday with every other woman. . . His eyes filled with lust for the woman underneath him. Gaara wished he was still alive. . . to kill him over and over again for what he did to Tsuyahra. Because she was in the hospital because of him, he had taken his work off and let his older sister run the company for the past two and a half weeks. He wanted to see if she would be okay. . . so she wouldn't leave on him and he wouldn't know. He growled lightly, hands clenching tightly enough to draw blood on his palms.

The feeling of something cool, yet soft brushing over his right hand, caused him to jump out of the images and back to where he exactly was. Standing in front of Tsuyahra, who now looked extremely worried for him. Her hands covering his right hand, as if to calm him down.

She could see the anger passing through his eyes, and the way he ignored her when she tried to speak to him indicated he really wasn't paying much attention to what he was doing, and she grew increasingly worried. Tsuyahra had moved to stand directly in front of him, her legs shaky but still standing. She let her hands brush over his hand, and she watched all anger move from his jade eyes and out of the way, back to his emotionless eyes.

Tsuyahra smiled softly. "You okay, Gaara-kun?" She moved to using an honorific, because she decided that it was best suited for them. Or her, she didn't really know; but it felt alright to say at least… Like she had said it many times before.

"Yes. I'm fine." His eyes moved to his wrist, seeing that it was about five o'clock. "What do you want to eat?" She looked taken back at the question, but Gaara had managed to pull her closer to the car and help her into the passenger seat. She was going to respond, but Gaara had closed the door on her and folded the wheelchair, walking to the trunk and opening it, letting the wheelchair be practically throw there before walking to the driver door and getting in. "Well?"

"A-ah. . . I don't know." She lowered her head, numbly grasping the seatbelt and clicking it in. Letting her head raise she looked at Gaara who was giving her a bored look, telling her to just choose a place because he sure as hell didn't know.

"Oh! How about that bar we went to during that party of yours. . .?" She smiled lightly when he nodded, finally putting his key into the ignition and pulling out of the parking lot and onto the busy roads. She sighed lightly, letting her tri-colored eyes move to look outside of the window, trying to focus on one thing, but because they were moving her eyes kept twitching to look at something else, causing her to get slightly dizzy and moved her head back and forth to get rid of the feeling. "Ne. . . Gaara. . . Why are you helping me so much? I mean you did just find me behind a couple of garbage cans. . . and you helped me even though you had no idea who I was, or what I had done in my life. . ."

Gaara's shoulders moved into a shrug. He didn't know if he should be honest, of it he should lie straight out to her face. Her sighed softly, his gut moving to try and tell her the truth; while his mind wanted the lie. He didn't want to 'blurt' out that he liked her even remotely, because he didn't know how she felt. This was probably some type of fling and it would eventually go away. . . But why did his heart ache when that thought came to mind?

He was someone to be feared, yet she didn't fear him. His glare didn't even cause her to cower when he tried to glare at her. She smiled to him even when he practically killed a man with his own hands because of what he had done to Tsuyahra.

"I don't know. . ." He paused, turning into another lane on the road. "My body had moved on it's own when I saw you. Just had a urge to suddenly be nice to you and I don't know why."

So, that was it? A sudden urge to help her that night? Which would have lead to suddenly having an urge to help her every other time he saw her. Now that she thought about it. . . How come he was always around when something happened? Something that would probably end up killing her. . .

"So. . . Just a urge?" She sounded sad, Gaara knew and took a chance at looking at her. She had her head resting against the window of the door, letting her eyes absently looking at whatever caught interest.

"It's hard to explain, Tsuyahra. It's not the way it sounds. If it was a sudden urge to help you. . . You think I'd help you time and time again whenever I showed up? Even though you do have something with getting into trouble when I show up." Gaara smirked lightly, his eyes looking at her once again to see her looking back at him.

"It's not my fault. I'm just an easy person to get rid of. . . Apparently." Tsuyahra sighed softly, letting her eyes close for a moment. The feeling of the car stopping cause her to open her eyes again.

"Don't think that because I'm being nice is just something to 'suddenly help' you. I'm doing it for other reasons." Gaara gave her an odd look before opening his door and walking around the front to be 'gentlemanly' and open the door for her. After opening the door he went to go grab the wheelchair but she grabbed his arm.

"I can walk. . . I don't want to see too pathetic, Yanno?" She smiled lightly, earning a grunt from Gaara who proceeded to help her out of the escalade and onto the pavement. She staggered lightly, but she managed to catch herself easily with the held of Gaara's arm.

Both proceeded to walk into the bar/restaurant, looks were thrown Tsuyahra's way and soon whispers started to go on; but both ignored them and got a waiter to bring them to a table in the back. Letting her sit down first, Gaara managed to finally sit down acrossed from her, ordering a water for himself, while she ordered a Pepsi, only to be told they were out.

She sighed. "Ugh. . . Root beer?" Again, it was out. "You're out to get me, aren't you Urai? I know you have Pepsi, don't make me throw something at you." The waiter, known as Urai laughed lightly.

"Yes, yes we have Pepsi. Alright, well, I'll be back."

"God, he's such a bugger."

"Bugger?" Gaara smirked lightly at that.

"Yes, bugger. He annoys me until I want to punch him. He's worse. . . than what my brother was."

"Was?" Gaara seemed to be interested now, letting his elbow's rest on top of the table, his chin resting on his now clasped hands.

"Yes. My mother had died when I was young, and my brother followed soon after. When I was fourteen I was raised by. . . my abusive father, until he died of a heart attack when I was seventeen." She didn't intend on telling him that much, just wanted to say that her brother died, she covered her mouth with her right hand, as if she had said the wrong answer and suddenly her life would be over.

"Your father was abusive? Was that what Kayla meant when she had said you went though a phase like that?"

"My phase. . .? Oh. . ." She sighed softly, letting her hand drop to her lap. "She meant my ex-boyfriend. He was like my father, he abused me, and tried to rape me several times, but he never really got far. I managed to stab him the last time he tried." She looked at Gaara, and he seemed to be furious. "He doesn't live here anymore, Gaara-kun. . ." She laughed lightly, covering her mouth with the back of her hand, he only gave her an odd look.

"Why are you laughing?"

"You know what you remind me of. . .?" She smiled again, lowering her hand, completely changing the subject "You look like a panda. . . Yeah, don't ask, but you do. You have insomnia, don't you?"

He twitched at him looking like a panda, but nodded his head slightly. "Yes."

"Poor thing." She seemed to pity him. "Why not?"

"Rough past." She nodded her head, leaning back in the big puffy chair, letting her eyes close until hearing the waiter-child-man-boy come back ( she opted to call him that, because she really couldn't tell how old he was.) asking what they wanted.

"You know what. . . Bring a bottle of Sambuca for me. And I'll have ribs, that's it." The waiter looked at her, as if she was crazy. "What. . .? Haven't seen a female order a bottle of Sambuca before? Hey, I can be a heavy drinker when I want to be."

Gaara gave her an odd look. She could be a heavy drinker? She looked like a damn saint instead of an alcoholic. "Who'd say I buy it for you?"

"Then I can buy it myself, I probably have that much on me." Gaara gave her a bored look. She knew he was going to pay for the supper. She's more clever than previously indicated. She smiled, before laughing. "Gaara, I'll pay for it."

"No, I'll pay for it, just order it." Gaara waved it off, moving his arms off the table.

"I feel like a gold-digger. . ."

"But gold-diggers are cute!"

Instantly, Tsuyahra bristled in the chair, eyes wide. Gaara, wondering one, who said that, and two why she was suddenly so tense, looked to see a male behind her.

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R i d 3 r: Erm, sorry for the cliffy.

dark Alley: Mc Donald's makes everyone happy after they've been rapped. ( My theory, not actually true. XD)

Tainted-reflection-126: Because I don't want you to kill me for that! The dinner will be finished off in the next chappy! Don't worry, it's not… all that ruined. ; Ehehe, thanks!

LittleAngel22493: Lol, it'll be explained in later chapters!


	11. Chapter 11

**Lithium**

**Chapter 11**

-------

Re-cap

"No, I'll pay for it, just order it." Gaara waved it off, moving his arms off the table.

"I feel like a gold-digger. . ."

"But gold-diggers are cute!"

Instantly, Tsuyahra bristled in the chair, eyes wide. Gaara, wondering one, who said that, and two why she was suddenly so tense, looked to see a male behind her.

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Tsuyahra let her head turn slowly to see a male kneeling on the booth chair, leaning over the small little 'wall', green eyes boring down at her, a smirk companying his lips. His brown hair was a little bit longer than what Gaara's was, but it was close. His bangs were cut so they went from short to long and they were in his eyes.

"What do you want, Kai? Did you brother send you over here to warn me he's back?" Tsuyahra had relaxed after seeing that it was only Kai. Kai being her ex-boyfriends younger brother who usually did all the talking for him, setting him up on dates and whatnot. . . Something like a servant would do.

The male only smirked, moving out of the booth and standing next to Tsuyahra, earning one hell of a death glare from Gaara, but the male ( who thought he was the shit because he had his older brother to look after him ) just shrugged it off, absently waving his hand in the air. She swore he was gay. "Actually yes. He's back and he wants to speak to you about the incident about two years ago." Kai lowered himself, so he was practically bowing towards her. ". . . I think he's still mad." He whispered lightly, only intended for her to hear, before standing up, giggling like a school-girl and running off.

Tsuyahra just looked at where he ran off in utter confusion before slowly looking at Gaara, who was still glaring daggers at the male. Tsuyahra smiled lightly, noticing Gaara's jealousy, even if it wasn't all that much. "Gaara, it's alright. His brother wont do anything anyways. He's too scared to do it when there are a lot of people around. That and I don't intend to see him."

"Good, I wont allow you." He grunted, crossing his arms over his chest and looking at Tsuyahra, giving her a look of 'if you disobey me, I'll hurt you.' There was no way that he was going to let her go off with her ex's boy-toy of a brother. He didn't even need to ask when she said 'warn me he's back', he knew it was him. Gaara growled lightly, vowing that if he **ever** went near Tsuyahra, he'd kill him slowly.

"Yare. Anyways, now that I know he's back I'm gonna arm myself now." Gaara looked at her with slight confusion. Why'd she need to arm herself? As if she knew what he was thinking, she nonchalantly replied "He'll send anyone to come after me. The prick will do **anything** to get me back." She sighed softly, rubbing her forehead, a headache managing to make it's way to the front of her head. "He's a creep. He'll even stalk you around. I swear his family is either Gay, or Bisexual."

"I could tell by the prancing of that Kai person." He let words float through his mind absently. "Though, if someone is stalking me, I'll just put them in their place. I'll kill him if I have to, to get him away from you."

She gave a concerned looked, not because he said he'd kill him, but because she'd worry he'd get hurt out of doing so. "Gaara, please you don't really have to protect me as much as you already have."

"Didn't I say I'm doing this for reasons that are my own?" She nodded lightly, letting a sigh escape her lips.

"Still though. What if you get hurt because of me? I wont be able to live with myself, Gaara." Why was she so worried about him? Not like he would get hurt because of some primp. . .

"I can protect myself. If I'm hurt it's of my own accord. Not yours. Stop worrying about me, Tsuyahra. I'm not all that special to have such treatment." Gaara looked away, the waiter coming back with their food and setting it down in front of them.

Tsuyahra sighed softly, determined to find out exactly what he meant by that. Of course everyone deserved to be worried about. . . And if it was Gaara, then so be it. She liked him too much to let anything happen to him because of her past. She still didn't see why exactly he was becoming so protective for her. Practically demanding that he'd kill her Ex if he went near her. . . She should be happy about that right? To have someone protecting her. Then again she's always had people after her regardless of who it was and no one protected her. Hell the cops didn't either! It was just odd to have someone like Gaara around her. She was grateful.

After eating a couple of ribs, Tsuyahra looked up at Gaara and laughed lightly, covering her mouth with the back of her hand, so she didn't get the BBQ sauce all over her face. What she thought was funny was that Gaara had a bit of sauce on his nose from the rib she had given him to try. He had declined at first, before she shoved the rib onto his plate and he ate it.

Gaara glared at her, wondering why she was laughing at him. His eyes narrowed, trying to figure out what it was, he even wiped his mouth with the napkin, looked at it and nothing was there. "Here. . ." Tsuyahra leaned over the table, and used her pinky to wipe something off his nose before sticking it into her mouth. He looked at her oddly, trying to figure out what it was, before unconsciously wiping his nose.

"It was sauce." She never thought he'd look so cute with a dumbfounded face with sauce on his nose. I mean, he was cold as hell but having sauce on his nose like a child. She watched him as he crossed his arms, as if he was pouting over the incident, it was obvious he was embarrassed.

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It was about an hour later the two left the restaurant, Tsuyahra having to lean on Gaara slightly to walk to the car. She felt Gaara stop and she looked at him confused for a moment. A small smirk move onto his lips as if he was planning something. She didn't have time to react when he placed his lips over hers, kissing her softly. Her eyes were wide, it was obvious he wanted her to kiss him back, so she did.

She didn't have time to hear the gasp and the huff before the sound of women-like shoes hitting the ground and running away, practically prancing. Gaara moved his lips off hers, taking in a breath to replenish what air he lost from kissing her. She was blushing, when he looked at her, and she again licked her lips.

"You has sauce. . ." He pointed to his lips, before dragging her to the car.

It took, in all total about five minutes when they were in the car, and settled in before it hit her. "You're a liar! You did that to get back at me." Gaara smirked, letting his Jade eyes look at her.

"Took you long enough." It was as if he wanted her to know that it was done on purpose. She glared at him lightly, before shaking her head, and sighing, a smile move acrossed her lips.

-------

"This house is huge. Wow." Tsuyahra spun around, earning a shake of a head from Gaara as he closed the door. Had he not walked beside her, she would have collapsed onto the floor. But instead she collapsed into Gaara's chest with him holding her up. "Okay, so now I know not to spin on Morphine. . ."

"It's a drug, of course not." He placed her back on her feet before waving his hand to tell her to follow him, and she did so. Walking behind him, every so often using a wall or a chair to hold herself up as she walked down a small hallway. His hand waved to different doors telling her what they were. She was actually forbidden to walk into a room that was apparently next to hers while Gaara's was acrossed from her room. What's the point in telling someone not to go into a room, which is next to yours. . . It just spikes up curiosity at some point in time and eventually you'll go inside.

"The shower is here. . ." They had walked into her room and she practically fainted at the sight of how big it actually was. This man was extremely rich, she felt completely inferior to him for some reason. The room was a big as her own living room and kitchen put together, and hell that wasn't much. Feeling a nudge on her arm, she turned her head to look where Gaara was pointing.

"I'll see if I can send Kankuro or Temari to pick your stuff up tomorrow at the house. I'll need to go shopping tomorrow, for more food." It seemed as if he didn't want to do it. Well, males didn't really like shopping anyways.

"I can do it." Tsuyahra smiled, and Gaara just gave her a dry look, practically telling her 'no'. "I'll do it. I mean I need to do something to help you while I'm here, right? I don't want to be someone who imposes on your living."

"You're bones aren't that well healed, Tsuyahra I can do it."

"And? Please Gaara I don't want to be useless and just do nothing while I'm going to be living here."

Gaara sighed, hating the look she was giving him. It was a look between 'puppy-dog eyes' and pouting. "Fine." He hated it when he was out-matched by someone in telling them 'no.' Then again she was almost as stubborn as a child who wanted candy.

"Yes!" She would have danced there if she didn't feel so sick, suddenly. Hell, she didn't even have any shots of her Sambuca. . . Oh right, the waiter didn't even bring any for her! She was going to beat him the next time she came acrossed him. "I'll, uh, be right back. . ." She turned away from Gaara before he was going to ask what was wrong, but she had walked into the bathroom, closing the door. It took a minute or so before he even heard anything, it was her retching.

That was always good. . . Well at least she went in there before it was all over the carpeted floor. Sighing, Gaara rubbed his temples, knowing he was going to regret having a woman in the bathroom, retching up food and whatnot and she'd probably end up crying after words and he'd have to do something. Such a hassle woman can be. In the words of Shikamaru, their troublesome.

Knocking on the door once, the retching had stopped for a split second, before she started again. She much had taken a little bit too much morphine. Opening the door, the smell of puke entered through his nostrils, and he had to bear with it. She was on the floor, head practically shoved in the toilet. Walking behind her, her grabbed her long hair and held it up behind her head, so she wouldn't get it in her hair.

He kneeled behind her, using his free hand to rub her back lightly, hopefully it was helping. She coughed a couple of times, before pulling back, immediately grabbing some toilet paper and wiping her mouth. Swallowing, she made a face that said she didn't like the taste. Letting his hand move away from her hair, he stood up, walked to the kitchen and pour a glass of water before walking back and giving her the glass, which she gladly took a drank. Smiling lightly, she looked away from him, completely embarrassed.

"It's alright. You probably took too much morphine." He shrugged as if this was an everyday thing.

"No, it's probably food poisoning. I like to contract them from everywhere I eat." She paused, slowly standing up, wincing slightly as she did so. "Though, that was probably the worse yet." She sighed softly, moving to the sink and turning on the tap, filling her hands full of water before splashing it on her face, mostly around her mouth.

"Here." Gaara had reached into the closet that was right by where he was standing and threw a towel at her. She caught it and wiped her face.

"Thanks." She smiled again, and walked over to Gaara, towel thrown over her shoulder. "Oh, right." She hugged him as tightly as she could manage at the moment. Gaara froze, wondering what she was doing, but shortly he found himself hugging her back. "Thanks for everything you have done for me. . . Up until this point. I really appreciate it."

"It's fine, Tsuyahra." Gaara smiled lightly, letting his arms tighten around her lightly, afraid that she would suddenly break against him if he hugged to tight. . . When did this feeling start to make itself know when he hugged her? Then again this was the second or third time he hugged her. Gaara's eyes traveled to his watch, narrowing his eyes trying to see what time it actually was, and he was surprised to see it was about ten thirty already. . . Who thought times flies by when one's throwing up?

"You should get some sleep, Tsuyahra. . ." He felt her shake her head against his chest and slowly move out of his hold, immediately feeling really cold.

"Alright. . . But. . .-"

"There's probably a set of clothes in the drawers. They were my sisters before she moved out. . . Which reminds me, Tsuyahra." He paused, and she looked at him. "The demo tape you gave me, Shikamaru had given it to his producers, and they want you to go see them sometime soon."

Her eyes widened. Did that mean they liked her demo tape? She smiled, suddenly really excited. "Oh, my. . . Wow. . ." She didn't even know what to say. Gaara smiled lightly at her reaction, letting his arm move around her shoulders, leading her into the room.

"You can be excited for it tomorrow, just for now you need to sleep."

"Okay, father. Jeeze." She shook her head, but smiled lightly. "Goodnight, Gaara."

Gaara just nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him. Tsuyahra walked over to the dresser, looking through some of the clothes. Finding a baggie shirt, she took off the shirt she was currently wearing and put the baggie one on. Taking of her jeans, she just left her panties on and walked over to the bed, sitting down before throwing her legs under the blankets. As soon as she laid down, she was out.

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R i d 3 r: Uh, nothing to say other than MORE REVIEWS! Yeh… anyways.

Shadownate: You fucking better! -shakes fist-

Tainted-reflection-126: Well it was really Romantic. . . But close, right? Hopefully. Wow, five times a day to see if I updated. Man I guess I should step up and update everyday like I was doing before. . . Maybe! Ooooh, cookies! -eats them.- I feel so special!

Gaara1Love: paintball!? What about paintball!? Paintball is awesome. . . But I fear them all the same. . . BUT I UPDATED! XD

LILLY: Noooo!!! I need all the reviews I can get!! Thanks for reviewing!

LittleAngel22493: Mc D's gave me food poisoning. . . But it's still good.

All.My.Sorrows: you reviewed!!! -gasp- Maybe you can!? Put your mind into it? Like putting your soul into cards. . . Like yu-gi-oh. . . don't ask.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own _Lithium_ by _Evanescence_. So. . . Yeh. Anyways.

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****

Lithium

Chapter 12

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Re-cap

"You can be excited for it tomorrow, just for now you need to sleep."

"Okay, father. Jeeze." She shook her head, but smiled lightly. "Goodnight, Gaara."

Gaara just nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him. Tsuyahra walked over to the dresser, looking through some of the clothes. Finding a baggie shirt, she took off the shirt she was currently wearing and put the baggie one on. Taking of her jeans, she just left her panties on and walked over to the bed, sitting down before throwing her legs under the blankets. As soon as she laid down, she was out

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"_. . .Come to bed, don't make me sleep alone, _

Couldn't hide the emptiness you let it show  
Never wanted it to be so cold  
Just didn't drink enough to say you love me . . ."

The voice of Tsuyahra spread through the small room - obviously one built for music recording - protected by what seemed to be a bullet-proof window. Behind the window was microphones spread around, a counter in front of Tsuyahra and in front of her face was a microphone hanging from the ceiling with what seemed to be a mesh-like metal in front of the Microphone. What it was used for, Tsuyahra had exactly no idea, but she was having too much fun singing for the producer for Shikamaru's band.

She learned his name was Hyuuga Neji, and he wasn't all too nice but it was suitable for her to consider it so. He had his arms crossed over his chest, staring at Tsuyahra, trying to study her to see if she was a good music artist that could rise too the top. That was every producer's dream, Musicians going to number one, and staying there for a good two months or so. . . Though that was a rarity.

". . . _I can't hold on to me  
wonder what's wrong with me. . ."_

" 

Her voice was strong, no doubt about that. But what caught him the most was the expression and the hidden message in her voice. He was please, and Hyuuga Neji was rarely pleased by new people; or those will little-to-none training to get their voice like this. But she, she was just an angel he had fallen in love with. He was sure she'd bring her titles up to the top without any competition.

"_. . .Lithium - don't want to lock me up inside  
lithium - don't want to forget how it feels without  
lithium - I want to stay in love with my sorrow. . ._"

The music from the demo tape mixed with her singing didn't really go well. (A/n: So far the demo she gave them, the music is different.) It was more of a hip-hop type of setting, not something that would seem somber, calm and trying to make it's way into a more fast-paced rhythm. . . Then again, he can just edit it when she found herself band members. Though with her looks she'd find them easily.

". . . _Don't want to let it lay me down this time  
drown my will to fly  
here in the darkness I know myself  
can't break free until I let it go  
let me go. . _."

Neji's head moved back and forth, in a bobbing type of motion, obviously indicating she loved the pitch of her voice she could get. She defiantly could grasp anyone with her voice. It was just hard not too. Smiling lightly, his white eyes closed for a moment - like he was taking in a moment of bliss - and stood up, his white eyes opening. Waving his hand at her, indicating he wanted her to leave the small room.

Nodding her head, Tsuyahra took off the headphones, placing them on the little counter in front of her, before walking over to the door and opening it. Smiling, she stepped out, hope written in her eyes, accompanied by fear that she wouldn't be able to get the contract. ". . .So?"

Neji smirked lightly, letting his black jacket adjust itself before grasping a folder and opening it. His long brown hair managed to maneuver itself over his shoulder, but he dismissed it. His finger grasped a piece of paper, and handed it to her.

"I recommend these people for your band. But, do as you will. I want to see you in here in about a month, grab a couple more songs and we can start working on a debut CD."

The smile on her face widened, and for the first time in her life she was incredibly happy, she just **needed** to celebrate. But not with Neji, someone else deserved to have a little 'celebration' with her. After all, he was the one who handed Shikamaru her demo.

"Oh-god! Thank you so much!" She hugged him, lightly being sure not to strain her ribs too much. She felt him hug her back lightly, before she pushed back. Taking the paper from his hand, she smiled again and waved rushing out the door as fast as she could, only to bump into someone, and hard.

"Tsuyahra, calm down. . ." Tsuyahra gasped at the voice, looking up to see a male with blood red hair, kanji tattoo on his forehead, black-rimmed and jade eyes.

"Gaara-kun!" She hugged him, her arms wrapping around his neck. He was stunned to say the least, freezing when she hugged him in front of god-knows how many people. Slowly, he hugged back. "I-I got it!" She pulled away a little bit, too look at him clearly, a smile gracing her lips.

For the first time Gaara had seen her. . . She was happy, and because she was happy, he was as well. Though less shown than what hers was. His jade eyes scanned around at the people looking at them, before patting his hand lightly, as if he was completely embarrassed. . . He just didn't know what to do. "Let's go home, alright?"

Tsuyahra nodded, prying herself away from Gaara, only to **now** notice a small little crowd looking at them. She gave a weak smile, chuckling nervously, before feeling someone tug at her shirt, telling her to follow. Looking back at Gaara she followed beside him, trying to calm herself down.

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"Whatcha want for supper, Gaara?" Tsuyahra practically ran into a wall on her way towards the living room where Gaara was surely to be sitting on the couch staring blankly at the screen as random images flashed by. She figured he just loved TV. . . Because he usually went there once they get back ( for the past week she'd been here ) he'd turn on the TV and stare like he was on drugs and watching a black screen.

Gaara's shoulders moved in a shrug, and Tsuyahra sighed softly, closing her eyes and letting her head rest on the wall beside her ( and what she was leaning on ). Hell even Tsuyahra didn't know what to make for supper, she was out of ideas and she wasn't going to eat leftovers. She had problems with them. . . Traumatized from what her brother did to her when she was younger.

Pushing herself off the wall, she walked into the living room and grasped the remote from Gaara's hand, earning a growl of some sort before he sent a glare her way, and she only laughed lightly. Pressing a bright red button on the remote, the TV turned off and Gaara sighed.

"Turn it back on, Tsuyahra." She never realized taking a remote away from a male could result in them being mad. . . Oh well, his own fault for acting stupid.

"And if I don't?" She smirked, sticking her tongue out at him. She realized by now he probably would have done something to anyone else by now, and yet she didn't care. Right now she thought she was invisible.

". . .Tsuyahra. . ." His voice held that warning tone and she laughed dashing into a random room, only to hear calm footsteps echoing through the hall. She sighed, what the hell did she just get herself into now? The last time she tried doing this he had pinned her into a wall and threatened that he'd do much worse next time. She whined, thinking that if she could ditch the remote, she'd be fine.

So, ditching the remote it was. She threw it at the wall, only to make a loud noise and she sighed. "Damn! It was supposed to go into the closet. . ." She heard his footsteps stop and she bristled against the door lightly, and it made a 'click' noise to indicate she had actually closed it. Oh yes, everything was against her now wasn't it?

"Erg, what am I going to -- Ooooh! A window!" Walking over to a chair, she stood up on it, grasping the lock for the window. Because it was winter, and it had been warm-ish in the day, and cold now, their was ice all around the window, nullifying her attempt on crawling outside. Oh, that sucked.

A click was heard, and Tsuyahra's head turned towards the door. Watching as it slowly opened, the music of a thriller entered her mind and she jumped off the chair as calmly as she could and running behind the door before he opened it all the way.

"There's no point in hiding, Tsuyahra. I know your in here." She had to cover her mouth from laughing. Why did this seem like a horror movie, for no reason? Oh that's right, she watched Texas chainsaw massacre last night and laughed through most of it.

She would have said 'but it was fun' had he not walked into the room and closed the door behind him. The only light coming in was the light filtering through the window on the other side of the room. She watched him as his head turned, indicating he was looking for her. She whimpered lightly, lowering herself, waiting for him to walk away from the door.

She got her wish and he walked farther away from the door, and she practically crawled to the door, grasped the handle and went to turn it, but for some reason it wasn't turning all the way. Looking back, she could tell his back was still facing her and she stood up, trying to open the door again, but without luck.

The door was locked.

He locked it from the other side.

Meaning that both of them were stuck in the room.

Alone.

Okay, that wasn't good. She started to panic, fearing he'd do something worse like he said. She wasn't 'afraid', just scared. A little bit, okay a lot. She sighed, moving to turn around, only to have an arm blocking her vision, and the sound of flesh hitting wood. She tensed lightly, turning her head to look back at him, but only caught his mouth.

"Didn't I warn you last time. . . Tsuyahra?" She swallowed her spit, nodding lightly, smiling sheepishly. She tried moving back but he had moved closer to her so her back hit his chest, and when that happened, both arms moved and wrapped around her body, tightly but lightly so he didn't touch her ribs all that much. He knew they were fine but he feared that if he put too much pressure they'd break again.

"Gaara. . .?" She closed her mouth feeling his breath brushing against her neck and it caused her to shiver lightly. Gaara smirked feeling her shiver against him, bringing his lips to touch her neck lightly, causing her to flinch lightly as if to ask what he was doing. He let his tongue brush against her skin absorbing the taste of vanilla.

She moaned lightly, feeling his tongue brush against her collarbone and move up to her jugular vein and she grasped onto Gaara tightly, biting her bottom lip and her eyes closing. Gaara smirked into her neck, turning her around to face him and let his lips capture hers, licking her bottom lip, asking for entrance. She allowed him, and he slid his tongue into her mouth, battling with her tongue for dominance, and he was slowly winning.

Walking into her, he pushed her against the door, letting his palms rest on the door behind her, and her arms snaked around his neck tightly, pulling him into her more than he already was. Pulling away from her lips, he looked closely at her face and she was blushing. Smirking he lowered his head, biting lightly on her neck, causing a moan to move out of her throat, her head moving to the side as if to give him more of her skin.

"Hey! Gaara! You in here?" The sound of a male's voice boomed through the large house, earning a growl from Gaara and a whine from Tsuyahra. Pulling away from Tsuyahra adjusting her shirt a little bit and moved away from the door, Gaara twisting it the other way and it opened, smirking at the look he was receiving from Tsuyahra.

"You did it on purpose." She huffed lightly, crossing her arms over her chest as if she was pouting. Following Gaara out of the room they walked into the porch area, and Tsuyahra stopped staring at the door where a male stood.

He was about 5'9", shoulder-length black hair and bright green eyes. A scar crossing from his left cheek and up to about where his eye was. A smug smirk was on his face, hands in his jeans pocket trying to look as casual as he possibly could. His green eyes shifted towards Tsuyahra and immediately his eyes flashed with amusement at the look she was giving him.

"Hey, Zhurma. Could have come at a better time to discuss things." Gaara growled lightly, eyes narrowed at the male. Turning halfway, Gaara's jade eyes glanced at Tsuyahra, completely unaware of Tsuyahra's alertness and stance of being uncomfortable.

"I had to come now, I had other things to do, Gaara." He nodded lightly, eyes moving from Tsuyahra to Gaara and back to Tsuyahra, amused at watching how she squirmed underneath his gaze, not saying a thing.

"Tsuyahra, this is--"

"--Zhurma. . . He words with the Uchiha's at another large company." She paused, Gaara staring at her. How the hell did she know him? ". . . He's my ex-boyfriend. . ."

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R i d 3 r: Dun dun dun. . . I'm tired! Yay! Uh, sorry it took so long. I tried writing it three days ago! I swear! CSI is just evil.

Daughterofmisery: Thank you for Reviewing! Ja rule is someone who's a rapper, but I think he kinda dropped out of the industry. Haven't heard from him in a while. But he's gay anyways. And of course their gonna help each other. Why not?

Shadownate: You better. -glares-

Tainted-reflection-126: Ehehehe, COOKIES! -goes rabid and eats them. - Mmmhmmm.

LittleAngel22493: Not all of them are good. A couple of the suck.

dark Alley: Get yer mind outta the gutter! Lmao. Maybe later. -wiggles eyebrows-

All.My.Sorrows: Hey, you do kick ass. Don't worry, I'm about as obsessed as you are. Lmao. And losing 10 pounds because of my chapter?! -gasp-! Make me feel bad why don't you!

LILLY: Can I get a cookie yet? Lmao.

Emeralds Rose: Holy f'ing god. YOU REVIEWED FINALLY! Jeeeeezzeeee. Ass.


	13. Chapter 13

**Lithium**

**Chapter 13**

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Re-cap

"Hey, Zhurma. Could have come at a better time to discuss things." Gaara growled lightly, eyes narrowed at the male. Turning halfway, Gaara's jade eyes glanced at Tsuyahra, completely unaware of Tsuyahra's alertness and stance of being uncomfortable.

"I had to come now, I had other things to do, Gaara." He nodded lightly, eyes moving from Tsuyahra to Gaara and back to Tsuyahra, amused at watching how she squirmed underneath his gaze, not saying a thing.

"Tsuyahra, this is--"

"--Zhurma. . . He words with the Uchiha's at another large company." She paused, Gaara staring at her. How the hell did she know him? ". . . He's my ex-boyfriend. . ."

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Gaara's eyes shifted towards Zhurma, death written in his eyes. This was her ex-boyfriend? The one who beat her and tried to rape her? So that was the reason why he had such a scar on the side of his face. He knew he was a smug bastard, and didn't like him for that, now he just hated him.

"I must be known. You told him what happened, Yahra-chan?" Tsuyahra scoffed lightly, arms crossing over her chest and her eyes narrowing at Zhurma. Who'd thought she'd hold so much hate towards him? I wonder. "Gaara, she's delusional for whatever she had told you. She had been in a psychiatric ward for trying to kill herself when we were together. It was like she was high twenty-four seven. It was that bad, so it's only natural to see hallucinations. . ."

"That's a lie! How **dare** you say that! You - You scum bag! I wish I would have cut out your damned eyes out instead of missing your head!" Tsuyahra was pissed, that was completely obvious. Gaara was none too happy either. Her irritation and hate was practically fuelling his anger towards the male standing in front of him, eyeing her as if she was still his.

_'Like hell she is! She's ours!'_ His 'other-self's' voice echoed through his head, hands clutching together. His eyes were practically seeing red. He couldn't even hear anything the two were saying. His jade eyes could only see the smirk off his lips and the movement.

"Tsuyahra. Go to your room." Gaara's eyes shifted back towards her.

"But-"

"Leave. Now." She practically flinched at how dangerous his voice was, how commanding it was. She nodded lightly, feeling as if she was the one he was mad at. Hell she didn't even know _why_ he was so mad. Taking a step back she turned and walked down the hall.

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"Protecting her?" Zhurma grinned, letting his fingers brush the bangs out of his eyes, flipping whatever hair back like he was a female. "Or, do you just wanna fight me because of what she had said? Of course, males must listen to what female say. . . Especially if they like them. Right?"

Zhurma was just trying to taunt Gaara into lashing. "You're saying it isn't true?" Gaara was trying to get himself even remotely calm. . . But it obviously wasn't working.

"It's not. I'm serious. You'd think I'd do something like that to someone so lovely as Yahra-chan?" Zhurma laughed lightly, waving it off. "Of course not! I had tried calming her down one night and she tried to kill me."

If Gaara was one to laugh out of hate, he would have. But nothing came out. Not even a smirk, or relief from the glare he was sending him. Jesus, both brothers thought they were the shit, didn't they? "Let's go talk some where's else."

Zhurma nodded lightly, not expecting anything. Thinking he had gotten away with telling a lie to the great Sabaku no Gaara. _'Hm, the fool is more dense than Tsuyahra.'_ Zhurma smirked, "Alright, lets go for coffee or something."

"There's one behind this house." Gaara's more maniac, blood-filled side was happy as hell. Reaching to break the surface and to grab Zhurma by the throat and break every bone in his body in one shot. To hear the crunching of the bones, hear him screaming and begging for mercy from him. But there would be no mercy. He'd kill him.

They left, Gaara only sparing one look back into the house before exiting with his target. Zhurma walked in front of Gaara, walking with a sway of some sort, as if he was a gangster-wanna-be poser. Gaara's eyes narrowed, hearing something hit the ground behind him. Zhurma was leading him into the alley. Oh yes, how cliché. Lead someone into a dark alley try and beat the shit outta someone and leave. Oh, that worked all the time!

The sounds of struggling and muffled words reached his ears, and immediately he turned around seeing Darious (A/n: He's back!) holding Tsuyahra by the neck with his right forearm and his left hand covering Tsuyahra's mouth. Oh this was just making his day better and better wasn't it?

"I told you I'd kill her. At first I was hired. . . Now it's just hate for what you did." Darious smirked lightly, pressing his arm against Tsuyahra's throat tighter, earning a gasping sound from underneath his left hand. She was kicking around as best as she could, but being held up and her airway practically being cut off, it wasn't helping and she was loosing more energy than she wanted. She gave up fighting for a reason damn it!

"Hired?" Gaara's mouth clenched, teeth grinding together in an attempt to not go after Darious first. He'd be left vulnerable from the back. Tsuyahra couldn't fight, she probably stopped fighting after Zhurma left. This wasn't turning out as well as he wanted it too.

"Yes, by Tsuyahra's beloved 'sister'. Kayla. . . I think her name is? To set her up. But apparently because I broke her jaw or whatever, I was told to leave her alone. It was good money!" Darious seemed to be emotional, swinging Tsuyahra around in his arms as if she was a rag doll.

_'So, she set me up? Oh, she's gonna be lashed at when I see her next. But. . . Damn it! I need to get out. I don't want to be dead and having Gaara getting hurt because of me. Damn ribs.'_ She growled lightly, needing to find the strength to possibly flip Darious over her shoulders. But the male was a lot heavier than her.

Her tri-colored eyes glanced at Gaara, knowing what position he was in. She was once in that position. Her brother. . . Zhurma. . . Her father. Her eyes narrowed, past images flashing into her mind.

- - - Flash Back - - -

Tsuyahra ran into her house, age of fourteen. Her mother had just died this day three years ago. She was worried, her brother had called her on her cell telling her that Zhurma had come to the house and was arguing with their father and he was worried about a fight breaking out.

Panting the young girl entered into the living room, seeing no one but her brother and her father standing and facing each other, her brother holding his arm, as blood passed through his fingers. Immediately Tsuyahra gasped, going to run for him but something had wrapped around her. Her neck being wrapped with someone's forearm and her mouth being covered.

Trying to look back, she got a glimpse of a younger Zhurma, who was pulling her back a little bit. She started to struggle, finally managing to get his hand off her mouth. "Z-Zhur-kun! Please, let me help him!"

Yes, Zhur-kun, Short for Zhurma-kun. She had called him that because they had been friends since they were children, about five years old. She thought she could have trusted him with her very life. But this day changed everything, and yet, she was stupid enough to go out with him **after** her father passed away.

"Shhh, just watch, Yahra-chan. It'll be fun. Nothing **bad** will happen to Tsunai." Zhurma smirked, lightly easing on her throat after she stopped struggling.

Tsuyahra took a deep breath in, exhaling slowly, watching what was going to happen. Her father looked up and smirked, right hand raising as he held something in his hand, and slowly Zhurma had pushed her towards her father and brother, Tsunai turning around too look at his older sister. He smiled lightly before. . .

Bang. The sound was so loud it caused her to flinch, not scream and not do anything else because of the sound. But when it had went off, something warm and wet splattered all over her body, her face practically covered in spots of the red liquid everyone called blood. Her voice wouldn't come out, her eyes were stinging due to her brother's blood being spattered in her eyes. But she didn't care.

It took about a minute before she actually realized what had happened, and her brother's eyes dimmed out, showing nothing but death. Though the smile still lingering on his lips, knee's buckling underneath him, collapsing onto them before falling face-first into the carpet covered floor.

She screamed, very loudly. Zhurma having to let go of her to cover his ears. Her father just laughed, the look of pleasure crossing his features. She ran over to her brother's life-less body, dropping in the pool of blood that surrounded him. Picking him up by the shoulders, she turned him around and let his back rest on her lap. Eyes wet with tears. She started to shake. Her fourteen year old mind was corrupted enough. . . And to deal with this would cause anyone to snap.

"T-tsunai! Wake up! Please! No!" She started to cry, pulling him into an embrace, and throwing her face into his neck, crying heavily. Her eyes tightly shut, arms bruising at the amount of pressure she was using to hug him back to life. "Don't leave me too!" She cried louder, and her father just stood there laughing. Soon after Zhurma followed, joining her father for a smoke.

They planned it. They wanted her to witness Tsunai's death in front of her eyes. To watch as her own father murdered his own flesh and blood in front of her eyes. "Why . . .?" She choked on tears, pulling her face away from his neck, now completely covered in blood. His eyes were opened, bright greenish blue now a dull color. His head was hanging off her arm as she held him there.

She didn't want to turn him around, too look at the entrance wound of the bullet. Though usually at such a close range there'd be an exit wound through the middle of his head and she would have gotten hit as well. Probably in the chest area but non-fatal.

He felt the pain. She knew he did. It probably seemed more like a year to him. But when he collapsed onto the floor, the smile still lingered, as if telling her 'it was alright'. . . alright for him to die and leave her alone with people who wanted to get rid of her as well. How the hell was that alright!? Her brother, the only good friend other than Zhurma and Kayla. She loved her brother no matter how annoying he was to her. . .

She wanted him back. She wanted him back now! She placed her brother's body onto the ground, and stood up, dark blue hair covering her face ( Because when she was younger, her hair was a lot longer than it was now, which was pretty long ) her hands clenched at her blood-soaked jeans. The cigarette smoke reaching her. Slowly, her head raised, hair moving out of her eyes, the glare that settled in her Tri-color eyes seemed to stay one color, and that was blue.

She was pissed. Her teeth baring as if she was a rabid animal, ready to strike something that entered into her own territory. Her feet moved fast and her right shoulder came into contact with Zhurma's stomach, knocking the air out of his lungs and both went crashing down to the floor, her on top of his chest and punching him as hard as she could have managed.

It was enough to break his nose in three hits, to give him to black eyes and a fat lip. Someone had grabbed her arms and threw her off of Zhurma and into a bookcase on the other side of the room, crashing into it hard before falling to the ground and the heavy bookcase falling on her. . .

- - - End Flashback - - -

Tsuyahra's eyes flashed back to the future, seeing Zhurma's hand raising slowly, her eyes widened. Oh hell no! not now, and sure as hell not with Gaara! She growled, a sudden burst of adrenalin filling her veins as if she was taking drugs by the ounce in one shot. She pulled her body down onto the pavement, and slowly brought herself forwards to flip Darious onto his back with a loud 'thump'. This cause a small distraction for Zhurma, wondering what the hell Tsuyahra was doing.

It was no more than twenty seconds before Zhurma was on his back, Tsuyahra on her chest and holding something to his throat, dangerously heavy with pressure to kill him even if he moved an inch. Something has scattered on the ground out of his reach.

Gaara, being surprised at what Tsuyahra had done by flipping over Darious ( who was twice her weight ) onto the ground successfully knocking the air out of his lungs and running past him with speed that could probably out-match his and knock Zhurma to the ground. His eyes caught sight of a gun scattering acrossed the ground.

He was going to shoot Gaara. In front of Tsuyahra? Why'd the hell she put herself in a position to get herself killed?! The sound of struggling came from Darious as he started to stand up. As his eyes even reached the scene he found that this was going to be one hell of a match. With an enraged woman and a male that had kicked his ass before.

But no, there was no way in hell he was going to get away this time. The cops here couldn't get leads if there wasn't loud noise. Then again this place was practically isolated with the exceptional shops for coffee, and a couple of rich houses. But they were far enough away and the cops didn't come around here. He'd commit murder.

"You son of a bitch!" Tsuyahra's voice cut through the air, causing Darious and Gaara to look at the two on the ground. "You think you could have done it this time!? Didn't you!" She was shaking.

"I did." Zhurma seemed to calm for her. But the fear in his eyes was evident.

Tsuyahra's eyes narrowed, blue again over-taking the yellow and the bright green. Zhurma's eyes widened, now starting to struggle lightly. A small sadistic like laugh creped from her mouth, the sound of distant rumbling in the distance was heard before the sound of rain pelting the ground and all four beings there.

"I want you to suffer. . ." Her voice was barely above a whisper, the sound of sirens suddenly filled the ears of all four of them. Darious taking his chance to turn around and run, but he didn't get very far.

"Freeze! Hands up!" It was a males voice, a cop obviously.

Tsuyahra smirked, glaring down at her ex. "I want you to rot in prison. Anything else is far to high for you. Murdering you would just grant you an easy way out. People who are like you deserve to suffer. . ." She paused. "You held me back when Tsunai was killed. You **_both_** made me watch as he died! You fucking laughed about it as if it was an everyday thing! You may have been a cop before. But their not going to fucking believe you now. Because you set it up, you're in for first degree murder." Tsuyahra grinned, eyes flashing as her dark blue hair fell around her face and Zhurma's. "I've gotten my trial after eight years."

"Tsuyahra, the cops are here. Get off him. . ." Gaara's hand grasped her left arm which was holding the knife. If the cops had seen she was holding a knife to his neck, she'd be charged for holding a weapon on her. Pulling her off him, he grasped the knife, closed it into the metal casing and placed it in his pockets. He could feel Tsuyahra shaking in his grasp.

"You'll have no bail, and you'll have a life sentence. . . I promise you that." She growled lightly, again, trying to get out of Gaara's grip and to beat him before he was sent off. ". . . you betrayed my trust! I'll **never** forgive you. I hope you go to hell!"

"Alright, calm down. Let's go." The cop who had stopped Darious ( and cuffed him was in the backseat of the car ) walked behind Zhurma kicking him over. "Zhurma, you screwed around with the force, no one's gonna back you up." The officer smirked lightly, taking a glance at Tsuyahra. "Place you're hands behind you back!" Zhurma did as he was told. "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be held against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you do not have the money to get one, we will get one for you. . ." The officer kept listing off the rights as he cuffed Zhurma and picked him up off the ground and towards the cop car.

"Thanks, Yourichi-san. . ." Tsuyahra had mumbled it as the officer passed he smiled lightly.

"Hey, what are friends for? I promised you I'd get your trial even if it cost me my job. He deserves it anyways." He nodded his head, looking at Gaara. "She had a knife, didn't she? I wont say anything. Just. . . Take care of her for me, alright?"

Gaara nodded lightly, both himself and Tsuyahra watching as Yourichi practically shoved Zhurma into the car and drove away. It was simple and easy. . . He was now out of Tsuyahra's life, and Darious was going as well.

Gaara was about to say something, asking her if she was alright, but she threw herself into his chest, wrapping her arms around him tightly as if he was her life-support. Her body was still shaking, realizing now that it was just adrenaline moving through her veins. He smirked lightly, wrapping his arms around her lightly, his chin resting on her head. She had risked her life to save him from being shot.

But why?

"Tsuyahra. . . Why did you. . .?" He was cut off, as she looked up at him and smiled lightly.

"Him and my father. . . Remember when I told you my brother died?" She watched as his head nodded lightly. "Well, him and my father had set up a plan to kill him. I was at school, and my brother called me, saying that the two of them were fighting and so I ran home to make sure everything was okay. When I got there my brother's arm was bleeding and he was standing in front of my father. I was about to go see what happened, but Zhurma held me back, much like what Darious did. . . And my brother turned around, smiled at me before my father raised his hand and pulled the trigger to a gun, shooting my brother in the head and killing him. . ." Tsuyahra lowered her head, closing her eyes, the tears finally making their way to her eyes. She let her forehead rest against Gaara's chest, not moving her arms, and he wasn't either. "I didn't want to loose you either. . ."

"Then why did --" She didn't even have to know what he was talking about to understand what he was going to ask her.

"-- I don't know. I really don't. I could have said no. . . but I guess it was the fear that he'd kill me the same way my father killed my brother." She was about to cry, Gaara silently soothing her by letting his right hand rub against her back. The rain wasn't all to cold, so they weren't bothered by it. The sound of thunder moved acrossed the sky, lightening flashing at the same time.

"Lets go back inside, Tsuyahra." She nodded and pulled away from Gaara slowly. She was about to start walking towards the front door, but Gaara grabbed onto her hand lightly, intertwining his fingers with her in a gesture to calm her down a little bit more. She looked back at him, somewhat surprised, but smiled lightly, squeezing his hand lightly.

They both walked into the house, Tsuyahra sneezing as soon as she took a step inside. "Ow. . . That hurt. I'm going to go change. Can you at least think of something to eat, Gaara?" It was if nothing had just happened. . . But she probably wasn't going to be able to sleep tonight.

He nodded lightly as she let go of his hand and walked to her room, closing the door behind her as she opened a drawer, and grabbing a large shirt ( that was way to big for her, and most likely fit Gaara ) and a pair of loose pants. Grabbing a towel, she dried herself off and took off her clothes, taking her bra off, seeing as how it was soaked and she really didn't need one right now. Putting on the large shirt, she took off her jeans and stopped.

She froze, her jeans didn't look blue. It looked as if it was covered with blood. Her eyes widened, screaming as she collapsed to the ground, covering her eyes with her hands. Thank god her shirt was long enough that it went down to her knee's. The sound of heavy footsteps were heard before the door slammed opened.

"Tsuyahra?" Gaara's voice reached her ears but she didn't do anything to acknowledge that he was there. He walked over to her, trying to figure out what was wrong. Her pants were wrapped around her ankles, indicating she was taking them off.

"Blood. . ." She whispered lightly. ". . .There's no blood on the jeans. . . Right?" She still didn't move her hands away from her eyes. It clicked inside his head what she was talking about. She was seeing her brother's blood on her pants.

"No, Tsuyahra. There's no blood. Come on, you need to get changed so you don't get sick." She nodded slowly, taking in a seep breath, before exhaling and lowering her hands.

"Alright. Sorry, Gaara. It just seemed real for a second." Gaara' nodded his head, and turned around, not leaving. "Aren't you going to leave?"

"Just get changed, Tsuyahra."

She sighed, finally taking off her pants and putting on the loose-fitting ones, tying the string around her waist. Gaara turned his head, hearing no noises and looked back at her.

"Come. . ." He waved his hand a little bit, before walking out of her door and to the right. She followed behind him, wondering what he was doing. Letting her eyes move around. Gaara opened a door, and she realized that she was walking into his room, and she stopped. Gaara looking at her.

"Tsuyahra, come in here." It was like she was a child, being demanded to move. She nodded lightly, walking into the room and Gaara closed the door, he pointed to his bed, which was really big, the black pillows and red sheets making it obvious what Gaara's favorite colors were.

"But. . ."

"You'll sleep in here tonight. I don't want to run down to your room if your having a nightmare, so I'll watch you tonight."

"Shouldn't one feel creped out by that somehow?" She looked at him, and he smirked lightly.

"Depends on how you want to think about it."

"Thanks." She rolled her eyes lightly, smiling as she shook her head. Walking over to the bed, both of them sat on the bed, and she instantly loved his bed. It was comfortable, even to just sit on it. She collapsed onto her left side, eyes instantly closing. She could just pass out on the bed right then and there, but she had to move underneath the covers, didn't she? Opening her eyes she looked at Gaara who was amused.

"What? You're bed is comfy. . ." He shrugged as she pulled the covers over her.

"It was a way to try and get me to sleep. Never worked though." She nodded her head, patting the large gap beside her. She wanted him to lay down next to her. He sighed and pulled the covers up and slipping underneath with her. She smiled lightly.

"Well, man, I don't see how one couldn't sleep on this mattress. . ." She closed her eyes again, relaxing.

Gaara watched her breathing, seeing it slowly even out indicating she was asleep. He smirked lightly pulling himself closer to her. She turned around onto her right side so her back was to him and his took his chance and wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her to his chest. She curled up lightly, snuggling into him and into the pillows at the same time.

'_Yes. . . She will be ours_.'

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R i d 3 r: Ugh! Long chapter for my delay. Been busy, I had the best time last night at a concert, Evanescence. Jesus it was the best thing to ever see. If they come to you, GO SEE THEM! Yep, Uhhh. . . Yeh dunno what to say about this chapter other than I'm in more pain that I have been for the past 4 hours I've been awake.

LittleAngel22493: Red bull eh? Well. . . Uh. . . What if I don't like red bull. . . And if I had wings, it'd only be trouble for people around me. Lol.

Emeralds Rose: Hey, I said I needed a name, and I to use your idea, hell, I was blanked out for a while. Lol. As for Gaara being dominating, it's Gaara. Like he's gonna be over-powered by a female like Tsuyahra that easily.

dark Alley: I wanted to kill them, but I realized that if they kill them, she'd be a murder too, and eventually the cops'll track them down and they'd go to jail. We didn't need that.

D: : And I have no idea who you are! But here's your hold damned chapter!

Lilly: Cookies came from me being completely random. Do not ask. Lol.


	14. Chapter 14

**Lithium**

**Chapter 14**

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". . .He. . .was. . .like. . .the. . .weight. . .of. . .the. . .world. . ." The sound of pencil hitting paper filled through the practically empty room save for a couple guitars and a black grand piano off to the corner. Tsuyahra sighed, her eyes burning from trying to write a song for the past three hours. Crumpled up pieces of paper littered the floor around her. Rubbing her eyes for a moment, she leaned back in the chair she was sitting in and relaxed her shoulders as much as she could. . . Which wasn't really doing all that much. The pain in her shoulders were irritating her and throbbing every other second.

Her long hair slowly wiggled it's way from underneath her neck to falling over the chair and almost touching the ground. Her tri-colored eyes glanced up at the ceiling as if it would suddenly give her inspiration to write. She needed three songs to write by Thursday, for her manager and her newly acquired band and for her sister Kayla. . . Who still needed to be 'talked' to about the little incident that happened only a couple of weeks ago.

Tsuyahra smiled lightly, seeing her sister in a wedding dress. Even if it was slightly disturbing to see the younger one go first, it was still something to see and it would be a happy day. Tsuyahra could only wish she'd get married one day and settled down, but usually when that happens something or someone always interferes with what was going well for her.

She sighed again, letting the words of her new song move through her brain. Opening her mouth a little bit, she let her tongue slide acrossed her lips.

"_Feels like the weight of the world  
like God in heaven gave me a turn  
don't cling to me, I swear I can't fix you  
still in the dark, can you fix me?_

freefall, freefall, all through life . . ."

The words moving from her mouth rolled over her tongue slowly, trying to figure out what to write next. She loved the song already, writing about Zhurma in a way. It was something to relive stress. She yawned softly, blinking her eyes as water started to brim her eyes, before she shook her head and sitting up, a burst of lyrics suddenly hitting her.

Grasping the pencil, she started to scribble down the words on the loose-leaf. It took about fifteen twenty minutes before she finally got it all down and she threw her arm into the air, as if she wa suddenly celebrating something. Standing up, she walked over to the piano and let her fingers absently trace over the keys.

Now, she just needed some type of beat. But with this song it needed to be semi-heavy. Grinning, her eyes looked at the clock. It wasn't all that late. Maybe about six thirty. They'd come here and help her figure out the music. She didn't need to worry about Gaara, grateful that he had gone to work and said he'd be out till late.

Grasping a phone she dialed numbers, telling her band members to meet her here with their things and such. She smiled lightly as she placed the phone down running to the living room and sitting down on the chair and started to watch TV until they arrived.

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It took about an hour to say the least before the four of them arrived and she smiled lightly, waving them all inside and leading them into the room where she had been writing her songs. Turning around she looked at her lead guitarist, who she had actually known since she was a child as well. Mitsura, Akeno

Akeno was one of her good friends, but she never really trusted him much to tell him everything like she had done with Kayla and Zhurma. He was about 6'2", very tall compared to Tsuyahra. He had bright orange hair hazel eyes that complemented his face. He had small freckles covering the bridge of his nose - but then again that came with being and red-head. He was built, he had the whole sha-bang, twelve pack broad shoulders, the body any female would drool over. Though the only catch to this male was him being extremely hyper-active. You give him anything to deal with sugar, he's bouncing off walls, slamming his forehead into metal objects, biting his hand from laughing, everything one can do to inflict pain on oneself.

The next one was a little bit taller than Akeno, standing at 6'4" Skinny as hell, and looked as if, if he were to hit something his bones would suddenly crack and his arm would detach itself from him or something. His brown hair, cut so that it was a little bit longer on the top with random blonde dye. He probably had abs, and if he did, Tsuyahra never seen them. This male, Koli (Last name unknown to her.) was top of his game when it came to Drummer. She had seen him beat the drums until _they_ broke. And the last time that happened. . . It didn't end all to well with Tsuyahra.

The next one to enter into the room was Unichi, Saikoro the only other female in the band. She happened to be the bassist, and a damned good one, even though she's only playing four strings and isn't doing all that much. She was a little bit taller than Tsuyahra by not by much, maybe an inch or two. She had short brown hair that stopped at her shoulders and onyx eyes. She wore a little bit too much make-up but it wasn't too much to make her look like a whore. She was a good looking girl though, nice curves and everything. Surly to stand out behind Tsuyahra as she sang.

The second guitarist walked in slowly, he was more to himself, the whole goth-look going for him. He stood at 5'9", broad shoulders, toned abs and chest. There really wasn't much to talk about from him, though he did resemble Kiba from Shikamaru's group.

Tsuyahra clapped her hands lightly, leading them into a random spot in the room. She explain that she had just finished a song, and she needed a semi-hard-rock music feel to it. They nodded and went to do what usually came after knowing what to write up.

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Six thirty went to seven thirty which went to about nine thirty, and to say the least Tsuyahra was tired as hell. She yawned softly, finally everyone getting a good beat and Tsuyahra nodded. Grasping the paper in her hand, she let her eyes skim over the words first before nodding her head to the four of them.

The guitars and drummers went on to play a small little instrumental at the beginning, before Tsuyahra started to sing.

"_Feels like the weight of the world  
like God in heaven gave me a turn  
don't cling to me, I swear I can't fix you  
still in the dark, can you fix me?_

freefall, freefall, all through life

If you love me, then let go of me  
I wont be held down by who I used to be  
she's nothing to me. . ."

She paused for a moment before going on. . .__

"Feels like the weight of the world  
like all my screaming has gone unheard  
and ohm I know you don't believe in me  
safe in the dark, how can you see?

freefall, freefall, all through life. . ."  


She paused once again, doing a little solo with testing her voice, adjusting it to a good pitch for the song, before putting more emotion into her words as she continued. . .

_  
"If you love me, then let go of me  
I wont be held down by who I used to be . . ."_

Finally, the song came to an end, Tsuyahra smiled lightly before hearing the sound of clapping from the doorway. Spinning around she looked at her was clapping and waved lightly.

"Hey Gaara. Whatcha think?"

Gaara's move in a shrug, his jade eyes looked over her band members, nodding to them silently telling them to 'leave now, or get hurt.' All four of them nodded, biding their goodbyes to Tsuyahra, lightly bowing to Gaara and leaving the house, the two of them alone.

Tsuyahra walked over to the desk she had been sitting at earlier, and started to pick up the crumpled pieces of paper. "So, how was work?" It was odd, coming from her mouth, but eventually the two got used to it - it really did seem as if they were married. Standing up she threw the crumpled pieces of paper in the garbage and turned to look at Gaara, but nearly screamed seeing him so cold to her. He only smirked.

"Boring. Whoever invented meetings should die." That earned a small giggle from Tsuyahra, and Gaara lightly glared at her.

"I'm sure the person who did, is already dead. . . You hungry? I think theirs leftover food in the fridge. I wont eat it though."

"You make it seem as if it's poisonous."

"Oh yes, Gaara. Because I love you so much, it's poisonous, and it'll kill you for no reason whatsoever."

"Don't get Sarcastic with me." Gaara's arms crossed over his chest, sucking in air to buff his chest out a little bit.

"Or what?" She grinned lightly, eyes flashing with amusement. Gaara was going to respond but the sound of the phone ringing cut him off. He wasn't moving, so that made Tsuyahra sigh, call him a 'lazy fool' and answer the phone.

"Hello? . . .Yes. . . Okay, tomorrow? What time?" She stayed silent for a moment. "Alright. . . Alright. Yes, yes I'll make sure he's wearing a tux, calm down spaz." Tsuyahra sighed lightly, rubbing her forehead. "Kayla, calm down. Anyways I need to talk to you about something really important tomorrow. Alright? No. . . well not really. I'm pretty upset about what you did. So, expect me randomly snapping at you. Heads up. Anyways, Cya tomorrow." And with that she hung the phone up and sighed.

"Kayla?" Gaara walked over to where Tsuyahra was standing. She nodded.

"Yes, their moving the wedding to tomorrow, and they haven't even done the rehearsal yet."

"Like I said, Kankuro likes to rush things. . ."

"Oh, you have to wear a tux. And yeah, it's uhm . . .final?" She tried to sound big and commanding, but she ended up snorting before laughing lightly. "Jeeze, I need to know how to actually sound commanding. . ."

Gaara shook his head lightly, grasping her arm lightly and leading her to 'their' bedroom. Yes, their. She had adapted to sleeping in Gaara's bed since the little incident. She claimed his bed because it was comfortable and her bed just never actually got her to sleep. That and she wanted to be by Gaara for the whole night. She wasn't oblivious to the fact that every time she 'fell asleep' Gaara would wait until she turned around before putting his arm around her waist and practically snuggling up to her.

She though it was absolutely adorable coming from the Sabaku no Gaara. She smiled lightly, watching as he opened the door and she followed him in. She could say that her love for him has grown since the first time they met. Even if it was due to Kayla setting it up and getting Darious to practically break her jaw. I mean, that usually never works out right.

But this time it did.

Tsuyahra shook her head lightly, Kayla had said once, when she was younger she'd get her the best birthday gift ever - which would be a guy. At first, Tsuyahra thought Kayla was gonna get her a male stripper ( Cause a lot of them were hot anyways ) and come over to a 'party'. Young minds tend to go through the gutter first.

Collapsing on the bed, face first, she just stayed like that, knowing full well Gaara was watching her as if she was an idiot; and she slowly turned over onto her back, flushing at the sight of Gaara. Who. . . Had no shirt on. She was practically drooling, but managed to look away as he turned his head towards her. She coughed lightly, running her fingers through her hair.

Gaara smirked lightly, sitting down on the bed, adjusting the pillow so he could sit up. His eyes looked over to her. _'Ask her now, damn it!'_ his voice decided to pop into his mind. All day during the meetings, he had been debating on bringing her out to a movie and a dinner, to go on a date. Though he really had no clue _what_ to do on a date, but he had the gist of it. He sighed softly, letting his eyes close for a moment so he could collect his thoughts and say it properly.

He felt the bed shift lightly under her weight as she laid down, facing him.

"Tsuyahra. . . Do you. . . Wanna go out for a movie, when the wedding and reception is over?" So he didn't ask for the dinner, seeing as how he was stupid enough to blurt out 'after the wedding'. Gaara mentally hit himself. Gaara was supposed to be cool, collected and not afraid of anything. . . But why did his heart race?

She smiled softly, getting asked out on a date, well it was a first to be asked face to face with a semi-blushing Gaara. She sat up and sat closer to him.

"Of course! Why not? Means neither of us can drink, eh?" Gaara's head nodded, his heart finally easing as she had said yes.

His body stiffened, when she placed her head on his chest, her ear resting above his heart, listening to his heart beat. His eyes glanced down to the younger female on him. He smiled lightly, relaxing as his arm moved around her waist and bringing her closer to him ( if it was possible ) and closed his eyes.

Only when she was around, in his arms. . .

He'd sleep.

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R i d 3 r: I'm getting sick, so don't expect all that much from me right now. I know this chapter didn't really do much, but it'll pick up again soon. Like going to trial. -nods- anyways, review please.

Lilly: Randomness is the awesome. Lol

All.My.Sorrows: boiling cheese is way too hot! But, he deserves it anyways. Lol.

Gaara's Pyro RACCOON: I updated! Calm down spaz!! Lol, kidding.

LittleAngel22493: Sure you did. It was a hidden message!!! Lol, I don't know

Emeralds Rose: Yeh, well I had nothing to expect for this chappy either, so ha.

dark Alley: Eventually. . . You'll get your wish, calm down. Though it'll be crappy. It'll be my first 'writing lemon'. But that's later on, to deprive you. -evil laughter-

Gaara1Love: You better! Lol, thanks.

Chie Yamatzu: Thanks for your review. (even if it's at chappy one. YOU'LL GET TO THIS POINT SOON!)


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: Don't own _Lithium_ and _Like You_ by _Evanescence, _and _Tong Hua_ by _Guang Liang._

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Lithium

Chapter 15

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Tsuyahra sighed, glaring at the dress she was wearing. Being a bridesmaid wasn't as fun as it was previously indicated to her before she even got into this dress. Her Tri-colored eyes glanced around, spotting Gaara talking to his brother, and another female standing by them, she figured it must have been Gaara's older sister, Temari.

"Psssst! Psssst! Tsuyahra!" The voice of someone whispering caught her ears and she turned around to see the bride standing behind a wall, trying to hide herself, yet it wasn't really working. Kayla waved her hand, indicating she wanted to talk to Tsuyahra. Nodding lightly, she followed Kayla to a room and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Why'd you choose pink? I mean, why pink of all colors!?" Tsuyahra's dress was, indeed pink - and she absolutely hated the color with a passion. Though the dress looked alright, the top part of her dress was a light pink, spaghetti strap and hung a little bit too loose off her chest, but she didn't mind. Underneath her breasts were a pink frilly design; the lower half of her dress was a darker shade of pink and made her look as if she was taller than 5'5".

"Oh, But it looks nice. You're showing off more skin at least." Kayla giggled, nervously, before fidgeting with her hands.

"Okay, before you tell me what you wanted to ask, I want to ask, why?" Kayla looked at her confused, and Tsuyahra just rubbed her forehead. "Why did you send Darious Kayla? Just to set me up with someone and Gaara nonetheless?"

Kayla's eyes lowered towards the ground, her head lowering slightly as if she was being told 'No, Bad don't play with the knife.' like she was getting scolded by a mother. She shrugged her shoulder's lightly. "I-I didn't mean for it to get dangerous! Yahra-chan, I promise I didn't mean for it to get that far. . ."

"Kayla he almost killed me and same with Zhurma - except he almost killed Gaara." Tsuyahra's eyes shifted to look at something else.

"Please, Yahra-chan don't be mad at me. Please, please!" Kayla ran to Tsuyahra, grasping her hands tightly, before pulling her into am embrace; Tsuyahra not returning it. "I didn't mean for you to get hurt! Please, Onee-chan!" Kayla would **never** say that unless she really wanted Tsuyahra to listen to her. She sighed softly, returning her hug, patting her back lightly before pulling away.

"Because you're my Imouto, I'll forgive you. But do it again, Kay-chan, I wont look at you the same way again. Though, I must thank you for choosing Gaara. He is hot. . ." Tsuyahra blushed lightly, earning a squeal from Kayla.

"Alright, alright! Calm down Kayla! We need to get your make-up done!" Tsuyahra didn't know who said it, but she was pushed out of the room and out in the hall-way looking as if she had seen a ghost. She didn't even know what just happened three seconds ago. Rubbing her forehead, she turned to the left and took a couple of steps, coming into contact with someone. Looking up, she glared.

"Don't you know it's bad luck to look at your wife before the actual wedding, Kankuro?" Tsuyahra crossed her arms over her chest while Kankuro just smiled and rubbed the back of his head.

"W-well I wanted to see her and. . .-"

"- And nothing. You -- turn around now or I'll force you out." Tsuyahra smirked lightly, seeing Kankuro absently nod and follow her orders. Sighing softly, she followed behind Kankuro and out towards where the wedding and talking will be held. This was going to kill her. . . A Christian wedding equals, three hours of long talking about absolutely nothing and how God wanted this to happen. . . God hated her so much.

-----------

As stated before, it was three hours of Talking, and with Tsuyahra standing beside Temari and another female she didn't even know didn't go by all that eventful, just a couple of laughs here and there when Temari had said something, or she'd sneak glances at the best man, who'd only return the favor.

She felt Temari nudge her lightly and she blushed, knowing she'd be caught by the older sister. Turning to face her, she smiled lightly.

"You like my brother a lot, eh?" Temari leaned over a little bit, whispering so only she could hear, this only cause Tsuyahra to get more red than she already was. She shook her head no. "That's a lie. Ah! My baby brother's gonna become a man soon." Temari sighed softly, causing Tsuyahra to just stare at her.

". . .I now pronounce you husband and wife! You may kiss the bride!" The priest practically yelled, throwing his arms into the air as if he was about to hug some really big person. Kayla and Kankuro smiled lightly at each other before kissing, causing people to clap and cheer before the music started up and they walked down the aisle. Temari nudged Tsuyahra again telling her to go, and she met up with Gaara, linking arms and walking down the aisle.

Once they were all outside of the door, Tsuyahra found the closet possible seat, only to see Gaara - who had managed to get past her - take the seat. She glared lightly at him, pouting. Her feet were killing her, the shoes felt as if they were going to break and her knees were on the verge of giving out on her; and yet Gaara only sat there and smirked at her. . . The bastard was amused.

"Fine, you wont move, then I'll. . ." Tsuyahra paused, before walking in front of Gaara and turning around, sitting down on his lap. ". . .Sit on you." Tsuyahra smiled lightly, looking over her shoulder to look back at Gaara, who had one hell of a look on his face. Tsuyahra giggled lightly, turning her head so she was looking in front of her.

"How cute!"

Click.

Someone took a picture of the two of them, and Tsuyahra was about to kill her, save for Gaara placing his right hand on her waist, causing Tsuyahra to blush lightly. "Kayla, I'm going to get you back. I promise it's gonna be _bad_!" Tsuyahra laughed lightly.

"Oh, come on Tsuyahra. Don't be that mean to me. At least _I'm married_ and your not!" Kayla stuck her tongue out at Tsuyahra.

"And? Not like I care if I get married or not! Tch!" Tsuyahra crossed her arms over her chest, pouting as if her candy was just taken away from her.

"Anyways, we need to be going to the reception. You know where it is, Ne, Gaara?" Kankuro decided to join in the conversation, standing behind his Wife. Gaara nodded lightly, nudging Tsuyahra to stand up before he did.

"Yeah. Tsuyahra you'll be coming with me."

"Maybe I don't want to? I thought people who are involved in the wedding gets to go in the limo. . ."

"No, cause your not special enough."

"Oh Kayla-chan! My heart!" Tsuyahra placed her hand over her heart. "My feelings have just been crushed. I though I was special." Tsuyahra faked a sob, before sighing and shaking her head. "And now I can drink away my sorrow."

Kayla raised a brow, confused. "Why not?"

"I'm going on a date after words." She smiled lightly, Kayla immediately wanting to know. "Ah, ah, ah. I can't tell you, you'd keep bugging me forever and never let me live it down." She laughed evilly, turning towards Gaara. "Should we go now, or wait till they leave and follow?"

-----------------

When they arrived at the destination for the reception, Tsuyahra was pulled away from Gaara and found herself sitting at a table in front of many, many people and sitting beside Kayla. Kankuro was on the other side of Kayla, and beside Kankuro was Gaara. This wasn't a good position for her right this moment; because if the people started to tap their glasses, the bride and groom had to kiss, then if they did it again, her and Gaara would have to kiss.

Not that she minded kissing Gaara - it was awesome. But to do it in front of a lot of people got her nervous. She didn't really have much of a relationship with him just really good friends in a way. . . If you think sleeping in the same bed and randomly having kissing fiesta's that _would_ go some where's could be really good friends. . .

Or was that friends with benefits?

Either way it was still awkward. She sighed softly, hearing the clanging of the glasses, and her eyes looked to Kayla and Kankuro only to find them smirking at her. Oh why her first? She sighed, glad she didn't have to get up because Gaara had gotten up, walked over to her chair and kissed her lightly - nothing like the bruising kiss he had left before.

It was odd though. . . Why did Gaara get up? She must have spaced out.

"I'm hungry, damn it." Kankuro started to whine loudly earning a glare from Gaara.

-----

He'd kissed her because Kankuro had been whining for a good ten minutes about food before the guests started to hit their glasses. Kankuro only nudged him lightly telling him to move. His eyes had looked over at Tsuyahra, and apparently she wasn't really paying attention to anything - like she was off in her own little world. About what, he did know. Sighing under his breath, he stood up walked over to Tsuyahra, and she had moved her head to look at Kayla and Kankuro before he kissed her lightly.

People in the room cheered lightly, clapping and laughing and Gaara sat back down. Not embarrassed in the slightest. He actually felt as if he had accomplished something - which in a way he did because there was now a fuming 'Tasha in the room.

Oh right, 'Tasha was here. Gaara didn't even have the slightest idea why she was here and knowing that much something was bound to happen between her and Tsuyahra.

"Kankuro, did you invite 'Tasha here?" Gaara's jade eyes shifted towards his older brother who looked back at him, confused.

"No. Why?"

Gaara shook his head telling him to forget it. He wanted this reception over and done with. It was already irritating and he felt as if he was going to stab the next person who talked to him. . .

-------------

"Tsuyahra! Get over here!" Kayla practically screamed it from one side of the room to the other side where she had been talking with her band members. She had gotten separated from Gaara, again, had a _little_ confrontation with 'Tasha and she was supposed to sing in about. . . Now. She sighed softly, waving her hand a little bit to the four beside her.

They nodded and walked through the crowed, Tsuyahra getting pulled away from the group when they got up on stage. Her tri-colored eyes snapped to the person holding her arm, only to see it was Kankuro.

"What?"

"You're singing _Lithium_ right?" He seemed a tad bit worried.

"Uhm. . . Yes? Why?"

He breathed a sigh of relief as she said that, and Tsuyahra laughed lightly patting him on the shoulder. "_Lithium_, and another song. Don't worry I can only guess how much she's bugged you for this song." Kankuro nodded his head frantically, indicating it must have been hell.

Pulling herself out of Kankuro's grip she walked on stage and grabbed the microphone, smiled and waved to everyone watching her.

"Hi! I'm Tsuyahra, Kayla sister. . . Non-biologically. Anyways I'll be singing two songs for all of you, so feel free to dance, listen, hate whatever. . . Yeah." Tsuyahra rubbed the back of her head lightly, looking back of the four and nodded her head, music starting up.

(A/N: Be creative with what she does and such, I'm just putting lyrics down for both songs.)

"Lithium - don't want to lock me up inside  
lithium - don't want to forget how it feels without  
lithium - I want to stay in love with my sorrow  
oh but God I want to let it go

come to bed, don't make me sleep alone  
couldn't hide the emptiness you let it show  
never wanted it to be so cold  
just didn't drink enough to say you love me

I can't hold on to me  
wonder what's wrong with me

Lithium - don't want to lock me up inside  
lithium - don't want to forget how it feels without  
lithium - I want to stay in love with my sorrow

Don't want to let it lay me down this time  
drown my will to fly  
here in the darkness I know myself  
can't break free until I let it go  
let me go

Darling, I forgive you after all  
anything is better than to be alone  
and in the end I guess I had to fall  
always find my place among the ashes

I can't hold on to me  
wonder what's wrong with me

Lithium - don't want to lock me up inside  
lithium - don't want to forget how it feels without  
lithium - I want to stay in love with my sorrow  
oh but God I want to let it go. . ."

She finished, her eyes watching people dance, eat talk and everything else. She smiled lightly, bowing when people started to clap. She stood up straight, letting her eyes once more roam around the crowed, and spotted blood red hair and jade eyes looking at her intently. She smiled towards him, waving lightly.

"Stay low  
soft, dark, and dreamless  
far beneath my nightmares and loneliness  
I hate me  
for breathing without you  
I don't want to feel anymore for you

grieving for you  
I'm not grieving for you  
nothing real love can't undo  
and though I may have lost my way  
all paths lead straight to you

I long to be like you  
lie cold in the ground like you

Halo  
blinding wall between us  
melt away and leave us alone again  
humming, haunted somewhere out there  
I believe our love can see us through in death

I long to be like you  
lie cold in the ground like you  
there's room inside for two and I'm not grieving for you  
I'm coming for you

You're not alone  
no matter what they told you you're not alone  
I'll be right beside you forevermore

I long to be like you, sis  
lie cold in the ground like you did  
there's room inside for two and I'm not grieving for you  
and as we lay in silent bliss  
I know you remember me  
I long to be like you  
lie cold in the ground like you  
there's room inside for two and I'm not grieving for you  
I'm coming for you . . ."

And that was her two songs. People just stood there, gaping at how much voice and emotion she put in it and blushed lightly smiling when Akeno decided to run behind her and practically glomp her, raising two fingers in the air as the peace sign and dragged her off the stage.

The very first thing she was hit with once she stepped off the small stage was Kayla's dress and the smell of liquor on her breath. She gasped lightly, hugging Tsuyahra tightly before picking her up off the ground and swinging her around like she was a rag doll. Had Kankuro not been in the spot he was, Tsuyahra surely would have went flying into a wall and not him.

"Ow. Sorry Kankuro." Tsuyahra pushed herself away from Kankuro who only nodded lightly.

"It's alright. It was Kayla-chan's fault anyways." The two laughed lightly.

"Ya-ha-ra-chan!" Kayla moved to stand in front of the smaller female, smiling. "T-that was the best!!!" She screamed it as loud as she could, and Tsuyahra cowered lightly, covering her ears.

"I-I think I'm deaf!" Tsuyahra yawned, trying to pop her ears so she could hear properly. "How much did you drink!?"

"Uh. . . three bottles. . . Of alco-ma-hol." Kayla laughed, leaning on her husband.

"Three bottles of what?"

"Bacardi I think." Kankuro tried to remember what she was exactly drinking.

"Ha! Three bottles! _Lightweight_!" Tsuyahra laughed, now feeling proud of nothing.

"How many can YOU drink?!" Kayla was embarrassed, blushing heavily.

"I don't count. Enough to probably bring down an iron-drinking man."

"You couldn't take down Gaara." Temari decided to join the group, Gaara walking up only a couple of seconds later.

"How can I not?"

"I can out-drink you easily." Gaara smirked lightly.

"See, Yanno what. Drinking contest. Right now!" Tsuyahra paused. "Damn it. Never mind forgot about later."

"It's postponed. If I out-drink you, you'll have to be my 'maid' for a week." He seemed so damned sure he would actually win. Like Tsuyahra was gonna go down.

"And, if I win, you'll have to run around in here and outside when everyone leaves - - naked."

"Ooooh! Anyone else joining in to see how far they go!?" Akeno jumped in, deciding that he'd might-as-well get everyone in it.

"I'll join!" It was 'Tasha, who could mistake the high-pitched noise?

"Same here!" Koli jumped in, nodding his head. "I'll own you all."

"Saikoro will join as well, which means Akeno is joining in. Kankuro and Yuji will judge." Tsuyahra smirked, the large group walking over to the bar, ordering round after round of shots. There was only one bet going on - and that was between Gaara and Tsuyahra - everyone else who was in, was just to see how long they could last.

'Tasha dropped out first, standing at five shots of whiskey; soon followed Saikoro at seven and a half - she spit half of eight out. Akeno, Gaara and Koli was about one shot ahead of Tsuyahra and it was hitting her pretty hard. She had taken to leaning against the bar itself, looking at the glass. She'd usually quit with whiskey at about five, but because she wasn't willing to become a maid in Gaara's house, she was still going to go.

Koli laughed, patting Tsuyahra's back, singing some random song at the top of his lungs before head banging. The think that happened caused everything to so absolutely silent. . . What happened? Well when you add head banging with drinking you tend to not know what exactly is happening and you possibly end up smashing your head against the bar. After everyone stared at the moaning Koli, Akeno bursts into laughs, spilling his drink of his suit before whining.

"Tsuyahra, give up." Gaara managed to walk over to her, standing beside her. It seemed as if he wasn't even _effected_ at the nine shots ( A/n: I don't even know how much you can drink before you pass out from Whiskey. . . Just go along with it.) and she was opening gaping at him. "Trying to catch fish?" Ha! She could hear the small slur in his words.

She didn't even _dare_ to speak, knowing she'd make a fool of herself. Her vision was slowly leaving her - no it wasn't the bar tender had been standing in front of her for a moment. She shrugged her shoulders, putting the shot glass to her lips and poured the rest of the whiskey back.

"K-koli! Hey buddy. You okay down there?" Akeno laughed, grasping a shot glass off the counter and put Koli on his back opening his mouth and pouring the whiskey down his mouth. . . And we all know what happens when one drinking something when their laying down - they gag. Koli sat up quickly, slamming his head ( again ) off a bar stool and falling back down.

Tsuyahra sat down on the bar stool Koli so graciously smashed his head off and started to hum the beat from _Purple Pills_ by _Eminem_. Gaara sat down beside her, paying more attention on her than anyone else. He knew he won the bet, but he was _worried_, - yes worried - that she would suddenly pass out and fall out of the chair, and possibly hurt Koli more than what he already had done to himself. He could see the glazed-drunk look in her eyes, her head slightly dropping but held up nonetheless. He was suspired she hadn't done anything yet.

Then again, she said something about _knowing_ what she did when she was drunk. . . Or along the lines he wasn't paying attention much. He took one last shot of Whiskey, finishing since no one else was going anymore.

"Guess who back. . . Guess who's back, na-da-de." Tsuyahra bobbed her head lightly, the song _Without Me_ was blasting on the speaker system. "G-Gaara. . ." she paused lightly, swallowing spit. "What time is it?" The slurring in her words were completely evident and he smirked. (A/N: Its gonna seem as if she's not drunk - but she is. I'm just not writing her speech like I would when one is drunk. . . Too much of a hassle.)

"Ten after twelve."

"Hooray!" She threw her arms in the air lazily, sighing and rubbing her forehead. "I soooooo hate you. I don't wanna be a maid for a week. What's wrong with you?" She half-heartily glared at him, trying her best to keep a straight face and it wasn't working so she laughed, feeling her chair move underneath her, she tried standing up, but managed to fall into Gaara, limply falling had he not grabbed her.

"Koli! You dumbass!" Tsuyahra turned her head to look at the male on the ground, who was moaning in pain before having a bar stool be pushed on him earning a grunt of pain. A song managed to reach the ears of everyone at the bar, and half left to the dance floor - where a drunken Kayla was leaning against Kankuro who was buzzing apparently.

Yuji had found an interest in the drunken 'Tasha, and were currently on the floor making out. Not dancing, but literally laying on the floor making out. Apparently she couldn't stand. Akeno had picked up Koli from the ground and dragged him to the dance floor, dancing with him like some crazy person on crack.

"Is this Chinese?" Tsuyahra managed to stand up, Gaara standing off the stool.

"I think so. . ." Gaara wasn't sure of other languages, so he never really paid attention.

Tsuyahra gasped lightly. "I know this song!" She said it a little bit too loud for Gaara's liking and she grabbed his hand pulling him out to the floor. Now, he was one who _didn't _like to dance, at all. In fact he hated it so much he never even went to a prom or a dance of any sort. He was very anti-social when he was younger, thanks to his reputation.

But I guess he could make an exception. . . For Tsuyahra.

"_Wo yuan bian cheng tong hua li  
ni ai de na ge tian shi  
zhang kai shuang shou  
bian cheng chi bang shou hu ni  
ni yao xiang xin  
xiang xin wo men hui xiang tong hua gu shi li  
xin fu he kuai le shi jie ju. . ."_

Honestly, even if this song was Chinese, it was still a really good song to dance to or to just cry. Even when Tsuyahra saw the music video on the computer she almost cried her eyes out it was sad. Standing with Gaara in the middle of the dance floor, she put her arms around his neck for both support and because it was a slow dance. She could see the confusion in his eyes.

"Put your hands on my hips." She tilted her head slightly, confused as to why he wouldn't know. Feeling his hands slowly press on her hips she blushed lightly, but smiled.

"I've never dance before."

Did he seem. . . _nervous_? She shook her head lightly.

"It's alright! I'm drunk - I think - and because of so, be your first dance with a drunk female." She nodded, before contorting her face in a way that make her seem confused, disgusted and laughable. ". . . that didn't really sound right."

He shrugged his shoulder lightly, now liking this concept of 'dancing'. He could practically feel her skin underneath his fingertips, even if she was wearing a dress. He pulled her closer to him absently, but she didn't protest, but move more into him so that her head was on his chest, listening to his heart beat.

"When do you want to leave?"

She didn't even answer him, a little bit to engrossed in his heart beat, the rumbling of his voice from his chest and his arms now moving to wrap around her shoulders. She was liking this a little bit too much, but having alcohol consumption usually does bring out what you truly want . . . Or that's what she's heard. Her shoulder's moved in a small shrug, closing her eyes.

Click.

She didn't have to open her eyes to know who done it. He was a _little_ bit too loud when he squealed and said 'this'll be perfect.' She sighed softly. "Damn Akeno. . ."

That was the last thing to escape her lips, before she passed out against Gaara. . .

-----------

He felt her body go limp in his arms, and caught her before she could slip out of his arms. He sighed, lifting her up so she was resting against him.

"Temari, I need you to drive us home." Gaara said, as she walked past.

"Can't you-- Right you drank. Alright. Hold on. . . Shikamaru!" Temari called over to her beloved boyfriend, who stood up from sitting down and walked over.

"How troublesome. What?" Shikamaru yawned, eyes half-closed from being so bored.

"We need to drive these two home." Temari smiled, and Shikamaru just shrugged.

"Fine."

Three out of four bid their goodbyes to the groom, and the bride had passed out long before, before they got into a car and drove Gaara and Tsuyahra home. Gaara sighed lightly, shifting Tsuyahra on his lap a little bit, having a bone in her ass practically pinch his skin. It took about three-four minutes before they arrived at the house and Gaara opened the door and got out with Tsuyahra.

He didn't even say bye, but closed the door and walked to the door and unlocked it. Sighing, he managed to walk to his bedroom and lay Tsuyahra on the bed as best as he could before shrugging off his tux jack and pants, leaving a no shirt and boxer Gaara. He smirked, seeing her face when she woke up to see him in such. Like hell he was going to work tomorrow with a hangover. . . Even if it is small.

Taking off her shoes and taking out the elastic and bobby-pins out of her hair, he laid down beside her; Tsuyahra mumbling something before rolling over and curling herself into a ball. And, again Gaara took up his post with his arm moving to wrap around her waist, and closed his eyes; about to fall asleep he hears. . .

"_Aishiteru wa_. . . Gaara-kun. . ."

------------------

R i d 3 r: Hooray for being sick! -dances- anyways sorry for the week delay. And sorry that this damned chapter probably makes NO SENSE whatsoever. I guess it happens when your sick and trying to write a chapter that's. . . interesting. And, it's 10 pages off word nonetheless!! Anyways. . .

Lilly: It could be! I mean it is. . . Well my story. . . And I can do whatever I want with Gaara. -evil laughter- It's cute to picture a blushing Gaara. . . In a way.

LittleAngel22493: Jebus knows. . . Cause Jebus knows everything that there is to know. -nods-

dark Alley: Well, I didn't really write much in Gaara's pov. . . But. . . Yeh I don't know what to say. . . Uhm. -gives cookies?-

All.My.Sorrows: If I had ice cream. . . I would so eat it. But there is none, I've been deprived of ice cream for about a month and a half. I feel so lonely. -weeps.-

Gaara's Pyro RACCOON: I did! Don't kill me!

Emeralds Rose: I'll make you look like I want to, god damn it! And I might take you up on the little 'offer'. . . or I'll make you drink a lot of shots and make you head bang and actually smash your head off something.


	16. Chapter 16

****

Lithium

Chapter 16

---------------

Tsuyahra sighed softly, she was really tired… and she had one hell of a hangover. God forbid if anything was to make it worse she'd start sounding like a nagging mother. She had been in bed all morning so far, staring up at the ceiling and doing nothing but that. Gaara had left about six hours ago to go to work, something 'important' and then mumbled words, but before he left he had given her some aspirin and water and said 'bye'. Leaving her where she was now.

The throbbing slowly moved from the front of her head to the left side, causing her to whine like a child and slowly roll over onto her side and shove her head into the pillow. She stayed like that for about five minutes before needing actual clean air.

She didn't want Gaara coming back, seeing her laying face first in a pillow and dead by asphyxiation because of a hangover. Oh yes, that'd seem well on the news…

The sound of the door opening caused her to sit up fast, pain spiking high causing her to whine loudly and manage to fall onto the floor in front of the bed in a sitting position. Arms dangling lazily in front of her, and head bowed lightly.

"Tsuyahra?" Gaara's voice was slightly mumbled, a little bit of concern noticeable in his voice.

"Mmh..?" Slowly, she raised her head and looked at him, a smirk crossing her lips at the way he looked. Frankly - he was extremely hot… with the way he was looking, but he also looked tired as hell and/or pissed off about something. Now, why would she think he was extremely hot…

Well, when you add Gaara in a suit and rain… Well you get a wet Gaara. His hair was sticking to his face, some stray drops of water sliding down his pale skin and dripping off his chin. His white shirt was completely see-through, all his toned muscles were delicious to say the least. She had to look away in order for her not to image… things.

"What?"

Tsuyahra kept her mouth close but shook her head lightly, so she didn't feel anymore lightheaded than what she was. Everything was silent before a really loud crack of thunder was heard, and then suddenly all the power that was on around them went out. Smiling lightly, Tsuyahra slowly managed to get up grab a stray towel which decided to make itself noticed and threw it at Gaara who caught it easily.

"Ne… Gaara is there any Advil?" Tsuyahra looked at Gaara for a second, only to see him shake his head. Sighing, she managed to walk over to the window and lean against it, watching the rain hit the window and slide down to the ground. Light, lightning flashed acrossed the sky, causing the dark black clouds to light up with it.

She could hear shuffling behind her, so tempted to look back but kept her eyes looking outside. She didn't know why she was acting so giddy because of Gaara walking in from the rain… Well then again who wouldn't? He's an extremely attractive male, one any female would fall for, but had the emotions like a cold-blooded serial killer. Maybe something had happened in his life to make him wary of people, or just plain out not liking people.

She sighed softly. She had told Gaara of her past… yet he still didn't tell her of his, and she was dying to know. She'd force it out of him one way or another. Albeit torture or some other method that'll eventually slip into her mind.

Slowly, she let her right hand slip from her side and onto the window, tracing where some water had dripped down to the ground… For some reason she loved thunderstorms - though when she was a child she feared them like a bomb suddenly going off right next to you.

She stayed like that for about twenty seconds before something slipped around her waist lightly causing her to stiffen and look back quickly to see what in the world was touching her. She slammed her right hand to her forehead, one eye closing, but she saw who the culprit was that was touching her. It was Gaara, obviously… no one else would suddenly show up.

She smiled lightly, and Gaara on replied with a blank look - which didn't bother her all too much. Suddenly, as if she caught on fire, she blushed - bright red too. She had just figured out how close he was to her, and doing it openly was… well scary.

"G-Gaara, w-what are you… doing?" Oh great, now she was stuttering. Hell even Zhurma never got her to stutter like what Gaara was doing. Something seemed to flash through his eyes quickly so she didn't catch it, but he moved his face closer to hers, and she didn't pull away. Two reasons being because she just couldn't and another was that she couldn't move even if she wanted to. He had pinned her to the window. Oh… now that, that thought crossed her mind, she lowered her head a little bit, embarrassed that someone would decide to walk by the window, look in and see this little scene, and it was painfully obvious Gaara didn't care.

"…What's wrong, Tsuyahra…?" His voice was low, husky and this caused her to shake with pleasure. Damn, the man had skills with words and saying them to her. She swallowed hard, feeling his breath hit her cheek, caressing it lightly. His face was close enough that if she moved, she'd be kissing him. As much as she liked the last kiss, it was a little bit odd… With the 'game' and a certain someone ruining it all for her.

She laughed lightly at the memory, earning a small growl from the male behind her. She shushed quickly, but that didn't last long when a small moan left her lips when she felt something wet touch her neck. It wasn't a tongue, she could tell that right away, seeing as how it was soft… like lips. Her eyes widened slightly, but not out of fear or anything - nothing even close to that, but because he was sucking her skin, right where her pulse was.

--------

He knew was he was doing when he had wrapped his arms around her waist lightly. He felt her stiffen and turn her head to look up at him, eyes flashing with happiness to know it was him. After her little 'confession' last night, he had though over possibilities as to **why** she loved him… or so she claimed. It could have been the alcohol talking - but frankly, he didn't care.

He knew what was going through his mind now… and nothing was going to stop him. He **wanted** her. Just her, no one else - and no one would take her from him. There was just no way that was going to happened. She was his joy - as little as he showed it - and she was the one who was keeping him as sane as possible, and keeping his siblings off of him about dating someone.

Seeing her smile, he responded with his usual façade, and seeing a small amount of disappointment flash through her eyes. He was lost in her eyes, the beautiful eyes that would always appear in his mind when he was doing something, or trying to work. It was haunting him.

"G-Gaara, w-what are you… doing?" Her voice sent him back to reality, and inwardly he smirked. She was stuttering. He had thought that she was scared, his old habit of seeing people fear him coming back, but seeing the bright red blush crossing her cheeks, he knew it wasn't fear, but because they were close. He wanted to see just how red she'd get, so slowly he inched forwards, eyes still locked onto hers.

"…What's wrong, Tsuyahra…?" He breathed it out, just to spite her, and a small smirk crept onto his lips, watching her shake from his tone. He could tell by the sort-of absent look he was receiving, then a small laugh, he growled possessively and took this chance to slowly slip past her face and let his lips touch her neck, earning himself a small moan from her. Brushing lightly over her neck, he felt for her pulse and found it easily by the irratic twitches it was giving.

Slowly, he started to suck on that one spot, wanting to mark her as his. A hickey really, and it was going to be a very noticeable one. He wanted people to know she was with someone. Pulling away from her neck his jade eyes searched for the red mark, and smirked when he saw how bright and how big it was. Slowly, he …nuzzled (A/n: - yes nuzzled, coming from Gaara, scary isn't it?) into her neck, and turning her around so she was pressed against his chest…

"Mine…" His voice was low, dark and eerie all at the same time - and that was what he wanted it to be. So she got the picture.

----

She felt him pull away before barring his face into her neck and spinning her around in his arms so he was hugging her. Her hands were held in front of her, so they were pressing against his… skin. Her eyes widened now seeing that he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Mine…" Hearing his word caused her eyes to shift back to his unruly red hair. She was confused. Did that mean he _liked_ her? Or…? What was going on..?

"G-Gaara… does this mean… We're… dating?" She bit the inside of her lip. All she could hear was their breathing and nothing else, and really it was unnerving her. Slowly, she could feel his hand slide from the middle of her back, to her shoulders and he stood in front of her, eyes looking directly at hers.

She didn't know what to do really. Say something else, or just stand there looking like an idiot… Then again she didn't really have to move seeing as how Gaara pressed his lips on hers tightly, immediately licking her bottom lip and she opened her mouth as his tongue bombarded her mouth, causing her to groan and she started to battle him for dominance, though she was loosing pretty bad.

Silently, she let her hand slip acrossed his muscles and wrap around his chest, holding him tightly. By the time forty seconds passed, her lungs were burning for air, but she didn't want to stop… But she had to and so she pulled away, breathing heavily, Gaara doing the same before smirking.

"What do you think?"

------------

"Where's the… ugh! Something's going to break, I swear it…" Tsuyahra mumbled to herself, kicking open a cabinet which was close to the floor, only to result in having pans fall onto the ground causing a lot of noise. She only stood there, looking at it as if it would suddenly fly into the air and put itself back.

"Yahra-chan what on _earth_ are you doing?" It was a female's voice, one she knew all too well. Though she was extremely surprised that she showed up here tonight. Tsuyahra thought she'd be out because of the hangover.

"Kayla-chan. This… is making me so mad. I'm trying to find the popcorn and I can't fi-- Oh, there it is." Tsuyahra pointed to the counter where, low-and-behold the popcorn was sitting there all nicely packaged and whatnot. Kayla slammed her hand to her forehead and shook her head.

As Tsuyahra was walking over the pots and pans something hit her hard, something that she should have snapped at Kayla for. Stopping mid-step Tsuyahra's head turned towards Kayla. Kayla only looked at her confused. After a minute of not being able to hold herself anymore on one leg. Tsuyahra stood up straight.

"Kayla… should you not be drinking because of the baby?" This caused Kayla's eyes to water, and she turned her head to the side, arms moving to cross her stomach.

"W-well you see, Yahra, that's what I wanted to talk to you about… Y-you see… me and Kankuro… we… Gave it up." That earned one hell of a shock for Tsuyahra, but she didn't stop. "We're, we're just not ready for kids now, Yanno? We talked about it, and maybe when we get a good place in the country you know. The house everyone wants, a large lawn and a white picket fence."

"K-Kayla, you could have called me and I would have went with you! When did you do the… abortion?"

"It was when you were in the hospital…"

"…My fault?"

Kayla shook her head no. Not wanting to hurt her feelings or make it worse for her than it already was. Tsuyahra sighed out of relief and smiled lightly to Kayla.

"Well, Kayla, I don't know what to say really. But I guess it is best to wait until you really are ready. You don't wanna have a kid then suddenly not know what to do with it." Tsuyahra laughed lightly. "Well, is that… all you wanted?" She didn't want to sound mean, but she wanted to eat popcorn, watch Saw III and then pester Gaara and ask him questions about his past. For some reason, she found that all the more interesting than talking with her Sister.

Kayla nodded lightly, smiling as she turned to leave. "Oh. There's gonna be a dinner at our house on Sunday, you and Gaara'll stop by?"

Tsuyahra shrugged. "I can go. Gaara'll probably say no.. I don't know."

"Please Yahra-chan, make him come too. Kankuro would appreciate it."

Tsuyahra nodded, waving Kayla out before turning her attention to the popcorn that had hid on her. Popping it onto the microwave, she set it on the specific time and walked to where she had made a mess of the pots and pans.

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"…This movie is stupid."

"Yeah, really. Though, it does make some sense to the first two."

"Why doesn't he just kill them all right away?"

"Because that would be a crappy movie, and spending seven dollars on it, I don't think so." Tsuyahra sighed softly, leaning over the couch armrest, arms hanging loosely, her fingertips lightly treading on the wooded floor.

The end of the movie had finally come, after watching it and pointing out the 'stupid things' or 'things that could have made it better' Tsuyahra sat up and stretched her arms and smacking her lips together, getting the butter off of them.

"Oh, right. Gaara-kun…" Tsuyahra turned her head towards Gaara, his jade eyes shifted towards her, head still facing the t.v. screen.

"C-could you um… Tell me about your past…? I mean I told you mine, and it would be fair to tell me too." All she got was silence, and watched as he closed his eyes. "You don't have to… never mind.." Tsuyahra stood up, grabbing the bowl she used for the popcorn and was about to walk around the couch, only to have Gaara's hand grasp her free wrist.

"I will tell you… Sooner or later… Just not now." His voice was low and she had to strain her ears just to hear him. But hearing his answer she smiled down at him.

"Okay! I'm gonna go put this away and I'm going to bed. Alright?"

Gaara nodded watching her walk out of the living room and into the kitchen. Sighing softly, he stood up from the couch and walked over to the t.v. pressing the button to turn it off and looked at his reflection in the black screen. He had no idea how to tell her what his past was like…

What if she feared him because of it? What if she hated him for what he did when he was younger? He shook his head. If Tsuyahra could stand him now… She'd understand why he was the way he was?

Growling, he pulled himself away from his reflection - hating it - and walked towards the bedroom. As he walked in, he saw that she was just getting into bed and she gave him a smile and he nodded back to her.

She'd understand… Right?

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R i d 3 r: There! I've deleted the four chapters because… well I ruined it for myself. Which means I might have lost a lot of my reviews. -tear- ah well, hopefully I can keep this on track and not find some way of dragging it off some where's and ruining the plot and putting me at a writers block. Also, I know that their both a little bit OOC, but it's as good as I can do when you've written chapters, suffer from writers block and delete them. Agh. Anyways, hopefully this'll be better.

Also, those who are reading and haven't reviewed, REVIEW! I've got over 5000 hits, and that's a lot, and only a small amount of reviews. Please people, help me out and chapters come faster!


	17. Chapter 17

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Lithium

Chapter 17

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_"Tsuyahra… Wake up."_ A males voice decided to bombard her dream causing everything to go black and cause her to groan. It was such a nice dream too! How dare he ruin it… there were ponies and unicorns and… Akeno running around in a towel… okay that wasn't a good dream. Slowly, Tsuyahra opened her eyes glaring at the male above her.

"Mmmh, what?"

"Phone."

"Blech…" Sitting up slowly, Tsuyahra rubbed her eyes and yawned loudly before stretching her arms above her head. Pushing herself out of the bed she slowly walked out of the room and down the hall, an aroma of food hitting her nostrils. Groaning, she walked into the living room and grasped the phone, picking it up and putting it to her ear. "Mh? Yeah?"

_"Tssuuuyyaaahhhraaaa!!!!"_ The voice on the other side, was so incredibly loud, she had to drop the phone on the ground and hold her right ear to stop the ringing. It was too early in the morning! Picking up the phone back up, she sighed, rubbing her forehead.

"What, Akeno?" It was obvious she was slightly aggravated, but he apparently didn't mind.

"_Tour, tour, tour, tour!!" _She swore she could picture Akeno dancing and jumping around on the other side of the phone… She wondered how Saikoro was doing there with him.

"Tour? What?"

_"We're going on Tour. Already! Isn't that awesome, Tsuyahra? We go on a big bus - With our pictures on it - in like… A week!"_ Akeno squealed on the other side and she could faintly hear 'Shut the fuck up you douche bag!' in the back. Tsuyahra giggled lightly at Saikoro's bluntness.

"So… A week eh? Oh that's great. And in that time span, I'm going to start writing a song of random… yeah. Anyways thanks for telling me, Neji probably would be to lazy to call here."

"Yep, yep. Anyways, I gotta go, Saikoro's trying to kill me with a knife. Byyyee!"

And with a click he hung up and she followed suit and then sighed. If she was going on tour, then… she would be leaving Gaara alone for God knows how long… and frankly, she didn't want to be gone from him for more than a day.

Turning around she walked into the kitchen where Gaara was sitting reading a newspaper and drinking coffee, a plate of bacon and eggs already made for her. She smiled softly, sitting down.

"Thank you, Gaara." Grabbing a fork she started to eat the food that was made for her.

Using his left hand to fold the newspaper down in front of his face he looked at her, wondering what the conversation was about. "Tsuyahra…"

Tsuyahra's head slowly raised from shoving a large amount of eggs in her mouth and tilted her head to the side silently asking 'what'.

"What was the call about? I couldn't understand Akeno."

Tsuyahra giggled lightly, swallowing the food that was in her mouth. "Oh, yeah. You have to know him for a while before you can understand him over the phone. Anyways, he was just telling me we're going on tour, that's it." She shrugged her shoulders and took a bite of her toast.

"…Tour?" She could faintly hear the displease in his voice. She could tell he wasn't happy about it with the intense look she was receiving from Gaara. She only smiled lightly.

"I'm not to happy about it… but it's my job. I want to go on Tour, but I don't wanna leave you here alone." She paused for a moment. "Honestly, I can only sleep peacefully when your around… so I'm probably going to be sleep deprived too. But, I have no idea how long it is, or where I'm going. I'm going to have to talk with Neji today."

She could tell right away he was not happy about it at all. I mean, he officially made it clear that himself and Tsuyahra were together, and him being… well Gaara, he didn't want her to leave. She was his, and he wasn't going to let her go; but then again, this was _her_ dream that she was perusing, and as much as he didn't want her to leave, she had to do it.

Letting the paper fold back up he continued reading and about ten seconds later he could hear the soft sounds of the fork scrapping against the plate.

----------------

"Neji, I need details!" Tsuyahra had been trying to get more information out of Neji for a good five minutes, and all she got was 'it's a tour, you'll be gone for a while, and be in various places'. It was annoying. He made it seem as if she was in the military and going to war, but couldn't tell here _where_ she was going and _when_.

"Tsuyahra, I do not know yet, stop bothering me. I have other clients other than you and your band. Now leave - I'll contact you with more information in three days."

…Was it just her, or did it seem everyone was suddenly getting really snappy with her today? First, Gaara wouldn't really speak much to her before she left the house to come here. She saw Koli and Yuji walking down the street and only one-sidedly talked with them, before coming here. Was this like a communist act and she wasn't part of it or something?

Or… did she miss something? Shrugging, Tsuyahra stood up from the chair in Neji's office and just left. Walking into the lobby, she pushed the front door open and started to walk down the road only to hear a squealing set of tires stop beside her. Turning to look, she only caught a glance of someone's blue arm before being covered with something that made a lot of noise.

Trying to scream, she felt herself being picked up and thrown onto something hard and then the door shutting. She could hear various whispers - obviously men - and speaking in a different language… so the only thing she could think of right now and to panic and flip out… and she did just that.

Kicking her legs in every possible direction and using her hands to claw at whatever the hell it was that was covering her. She could hear grunts after her feet hit something hard and then someone was on top of her, trying to pin down her arms and legs.

"Let go of me, damn it! Let me go!" She started to twist her body around as if she was having an epileptic seizure, hoping to go they'd think it was actually happening… Too bad it didn't work. Screaming again she tried to claw at the thing covering her, managing to make a hole.

_'Okay… I need to be calm… I need to fake that I've passed out… Hopefully that'll get them off me..' _She took in a deep breath before letting her body go limp. She heard one of the voices gasp, and the one on top of her chuckle deeply.

Before she knew it the thing that was covering her was ripped open and she was face to face with really burley-looking men. The looked as if they were in a nuclear holocaust and was effect by the radiation - it was that bad. She had to hold her breath due to the smell and once the man that was on top of her gave her some room, she brought her legs to her chest and kicked him in the stomach as hard as she could ( seeing as how he was sitting in front of her ) and then punched the other two that were sitting beside her in the balls.

Sitting up quickly, she turned around, grasped the handle and pulled it open. Without a moments hesitation she jumped out of the speeding car and onto the road, hitting it rather hard, then started to roll. Hearing the tires squeal to a stop, she pushed herself off the ground - ignoring the throbbing pain coming from the side of her face and her right arm - and ran into a nearby ally, not bothering to stop until she thought for sure they weren't following her.

Collapsing against a wall, she gasped as if she couldn't breathe and choked out a sob. She couldn't _believe_ she actually managed to do that easily. I mean, usually people who are kidnapped like that aren't able to get out of the car, or out of the men's grasps and their bodies are usually found in a month or so. She felt warmth running down her cheeks, but she ignored it, looking to inspect her right arm.

Running her hands over her arm, she could tell she didn't break a bone, but her arm was dislocated. Taking in a deep breath she closed her eyes tightly, grasped her bicep and pushed her arm into it's socket a sickening suctioning and popping sound filling her ears, and the pain filled her whole right side.

"_Damn_… _Ahhh.._" Gasping again she opened her eyes and flexed her fingers. They were starting to become tingly, but it wasn't much. Pushing herself off the wall she walked onto the sidewalk, getting a couple glances, but she didn't care… Hell she didn't even _know_ where she was.

Looking around she spotted a payphone and ran to it her knee's close to giving out on her. Fumbling she looked for a quarter. She shoved her left hand into her pocket, pulling out the quarter and putting it in the payphone, fingers shaking as she dialed the number.

Ring…

Ring…

Ring…

'Oh god Gaara, pick up… please..'

Ring…

Ring…

"You have reached the automatic voi…"

"Shit!" She heard the quarter sink down into the payphone and she threw the phone at it. It was the only change she had on her, she didn't even bother bringing her wallet and low and behold - something _had_ to happen where she required money.

She prayed to god someone was nice enough to let her in their house so she could use the phone…

----------

Gaara had waited for Tsuyahra to show up, irritatingly watching the red ticking-thing on the clock tick by slowly… he had grown to think it was mocking him. She said she'd be home in at least and hour, if not she would have called. And he had waited an hour and a half. Walking into the living room, he picked up the phone and dialed Tsuyahra's Cell phone number… but when he heard another ring tone coming from inside his bedroom, he cursed silently, grabbing his jacket and heading out the door.

Pulling up at the building where Neji worked, he put the car in park and exited the car, slamming the door behind him, and walked into the building. Letting his jade eyes roam around he walked down one of the halls and reached the door that said 'Hyuuga Neji'. Knocking twice, he entered the room, and looked around.

Tsuyahra wasn't there.

"Neji…"

"Gaara? What are you doing here?" Neji stood up, his black suit wrinkling as he did so.

"Where's Tsuyahra?"

"She left about half an hour ago… Shouldn't she be with you?"

"That's the thing; she isn't." Gaara growled, turning around and leaving the building he looked down the sidewalk and seen something glinting by the end of the building. Walking over to where it was, he bent down and picked it up - it was one of Tsuyahra's many rings. Had something happened? Standing up he walked back to his car and got in.

"Where the hell are you Tsuyahra?"

--------------

"Please - Please! I need to use the phone!" _Slam_… That's all she had been getting from the past fourteen houses. These people were all pricks. She didn't know why they weren't letting her use their phone, but she gave up. Maybe if she found a shop or something down the road, they'd probably help?

Well, it was worth a shot. Walking down the street she kept her eyes open for both a store of some sort, or those damn people who had tried to kidnap her. She shuddered… She didn't want that to happen again. She just wanted to be home and eating something…

It took at least fifteen minutes before she came to a store. Running in she went to the cashier asking to use a phone. They shook their head, telling her no, so she had to stoop lower to get what she wanted. She started to 'cry'. Telling them she really needed to use the phone. Finally, after three minutes they gave up and let her use the phone.

She kept dialing the house number, before getting fed up. _'Kayla!'_ The name seemed to pop into her head spontaneously. Dialing her number, she smiled, happy that she was going to be picked up soon… But that smile turned into a frown. It kept ringing… no one was answering the phone. Slamming the receiver down, she ran out of the building and kept running down the street.

She needed to find a road that looked familiar in any way to her. A familiar name or a specific building, but luck was completely against her. Squealing tires caused her to turn around and quickly look around, only to figure out that it had come from another place. Sighing, she sat down on one of the bus benches and closed her eyes, putting her hands in her hair…

That's when she felt it… something… _wet_. Pulling her hands out of her hair, she looked at them, her hands were completely covered in blood. No wonder people didn't want her to use their phones. She was surprised she hadn't passed out due to blood loss or something.

Hearing something rumble, she let her eyes scan around quickly - it was obvious she was paranoid.. I mean, who wouldn't be? Quickly, the sky light up brightly as long spider-lightning crossed the sky quickly. Her eyes widened. _'Oh god… Please no…'_ Of course, when there's thunder and lightning, their always rain.

And, right now, she was getting soaked pretty fast. Standing up from the bench she caught shelter underneath a tree near the corner of the street, but inside someone's property… and she didn't really care. She could feel the temperature drop suddenly because of the rain, and she started to shiver, Luke-warm liquid started to slide down her face, and she could only guess that it was her blood, mixed in the rain.

Swallowing hard, she dropped to the ground, rubbing her arms together tightly. "Hurry up and stop raining…" She had figured out when she was younger that when it rains, it gets colder, but when it stops, it gets warmer - and that is what she really needed right now; if she didn't get some warmth, she'd start to get sick, then probably go into hypothermia… but that's not until her symptoms get worse.

Seeing someone walking by she yelled out to him, asking if he had a cell phone; but he just kept walking past, ignoring her. Slumping against the tree she sighed. Either she was going to die… get raped… or be found… she couldn't help but close her eyes… and go to sleep.

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R i d 3 r: I'm Sooooooo very sorry for taking so damned long with coming out with this! Really, I am! I've been having really bad… issues. But it's starting to slowly clear up. My writers block is still slowly going away ( it took me forever to write this the way I… sort-of wanted it to ) and I've been having this really creepy guy follow me around… Anyways, I promise I'm getting back onto track and I will not take this long ever again!

I'll start responding to reviews next chappy!

Now… REVIEW!


	18. Chapter 18

**Lithium**

**Chapter 18**

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She could have sword she felt someone shaking the hell out of her, but right now… she didn't care. She wanted to stay asleep for as long as she possibly could. She felt as though she was floating; and she loved the feeling. Distant sounds of someone talking registered into her senses, but she really couldn't tell who was saying them.

"_-C.P.R!_"

…C.P.R? Why would there be a need for that? She's just sleeping, right? She could hear people and felt fine other than the floating feeling… Wait. If there was a need for that… then this 'floating' feeling was her… dying? She wasn't breathing?

Oh, God. She wanted to panic, but she couldn't, only let her silent screams echo in her head. She couldn't see anything due to her eyes being closed and the fact she was practically dead._'_

_This is a great way of dying…'_ A picture of Gaara flashed through her mind quickly, and she only had a second to memorized his face before something else caught her attention. Someone was holding her nose, tilting her head up and breathing into her mouth._ 'Please let it be a really hot person and not a hobo…'_

A picture of Gaara flashed through her mind quickly, and she only had a second to memorized his face before something else caught her attention. Someone was holding her nose, tilting her head up and breathing into her mouth. 

"_Tsu_yahra, Wake up!"

Eyes snapping open quickly she tried to gasp for breath arms reaching out to grab onto the nearest thing before she started to cough heavily, and move to the side to let all the air that was forced into her esophagus reach her stomach and come back up, along with anything and everything she had eaten and drank today. It really wasn't a pretty sight, but at least she was breathing once again.

Taking in deep shuddering breath's she slowly let her body calm down before turning around and looking at whoever saved her… and it wasn't who she expected.

"K-Kankuro?" He seemed scared, or at least worried, but she was pried away from he before someone decided to choke the living hell out of her. Using her hands she tried to get her hands between her neck and Kayla's arms. It took a minute but she managed and broke the contact, gasping for air.

"Are you trying to kill me!? I don't need CPR again, god damn…" She mumbled more curses under her breath while she rubbed her neck. Hearing beeping, she looked at Kankuro who was apparently calling someone.

"Well, Gaara's not really… happy. He's quite pissed off." Kankuro slowly hung the phone up, sticking his pinky into his ear and twisting it.

"Why would he be pissed…? I didn't do anything."

"Yahra-chan, you've been missing for more than seven hours. What the hell happened?" Kayla sat down next to Tsuyahra and took out a cloth to clean the dry blood on the side of her head.

"Seven hours?! Oh my God. How much crap do I have to throw myself in?" She sighed softly, wincing as Kayla rubbed over the wound that caused her to bleed profusely earlier. "I had been kidnapped… Well, some people had thrown me into a van, and I managed to get out by kicking someone hard, and jumping out of the car… I **tried** to call both of you, but no, no one answered."

"I heard some where's if you have a head wound you shouldn't sleep for two hours." Kankuro piped up, trying to sound smart.

"Yeah, I know. I had wandered for more than an hour and a half before I gave up and came here. I'm surprised I'm not completely soaked anymore…"

The sound of a car door slamming and footsteps from behind Tsuyahra caused her to turn around and see who it was. She smiled lightly, but the look on his face told her that he wasn't happy… and here she thought Kankuro was kidding… somewhat.

"Tsuyahra…" She visibly flinched at the coldness in his voice. She lowered her eyes and slowly stood up, wiping at the dry blood on her face, feeling as it crumpled against her fingers and fall to the ground. She felt Gaara grab her arm and pull her towards him and started to walk.

"G-Gaara! What are you doing!?" Kayla took a step forwards, only to have Kankuro stop her with his hand and shake his head at her. "So help me God, if you hurt her Gaara-!"

"Kayla, stop." Kankuro cut her off, eyeing her warily.

"…Fine…" Kayla sighed and started to fidget with her fingers, worried for her Sister..

"G-Gaara, stop, your hurting my arm." Her response was a glare and the opening of a door before he pushed her inside the car and onto the backseat. When she was inside, he slammed the door and go into the drivers seat.

To say the least, the drive was very uncomfortable. She could practically feel the anger radiating off him in waves, and she knew it was her fault. Sighing lightly, she just looked down at her hands and started to clean the dirt and such out of her fingernails.

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When they arrived at the house, no words were exchanged and she went and got changed and cleaned up. After finishing her shower, she quickly towel dried her hair and threw on a red robe and walked out of the bathroom, taking a quick glance at the clock and seeing that it was almost six in the morning. Sighing, she rubbed her forehead and walked into the bedroom only to see Gaara sitting on the edge with his elbows on his knee's.

She didn't know what to do, so she just stood there in the doorway looking at him. He stayed like that for what seemed like hours, was only minutes.

"I thought I lost you, Tsuyahra." His voice was amazingly calm. As if he was scared. She didn't speak though, fearing that he might lash out at her.

"You vanished… I didn't know where you went when I found out you weren't at Neji's…" He paused, raising his head to look at her, jade eyes showing the emotions he was feeling. "I thought something bad had happened…"

"Gaara…" She watched him stand up and move towards her, coming to a stop inches away from her. "I…I tried to call. I did, re--mmph." She found herself pined to the wall behind her with lips pressed against hers. She couldn't help but melt into him, pressing her hands against his chest as he pried open her mouth and shoved his tongue into her mouth, seemingly trying to memorize her mouth as best as he could before she decided to tackle his tongue.

It went on, neither of them breaking until they both needed air. Pulling apart They were both panting, staring at each other as if it was their last. Tsuyahra smiled lightly, wrapping her arms around his chest and hugged him tightly. Slowly, she felt Gaara's arms circle her and hug her tightly, his chin resting on the top of her head.

"I'm sorry for worrying you, Gaara."

"I'm… sorry for hurting you earlier…" She felt her shake her head.

"No… you were worried. Acting possessive, I know."

"I'm not possessive."

Tsuyahra pulled her head away from her chest and looked at him with the 'yeah right' look. She smiled and shook her head, laughing lightly.

"Tsuyahra…. Marry me."

It was completely sudden, so blunt and off guard she openly gaped at him, eyes wide as saucers. She'd never thought she'd actually be asked to… marry someone. She could tell he was getting nervous and she nodded, too speechless to say anything.

Gaara smiled lightly, as best as he could do and embraced her tightly. She'd make the best wife… and possibly a good mother too, if he played his cards right….

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R i d 3 r: Rush! I know, but I really didn't know what to do, and I was losing interest in the story. I'm sorry. I might make a sequel… depends on if people want one or not…

I like the say thanks to everyone who reviewed and read my story! I'm very grateful for having you go along with my random plot twists and whatnot. Hopefully, I'll update some of my other stories soon!

Until next time!


	19. Chapter 19

**Lithium**

Chapter 19 

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"So... He asked you to marry him, right?" A woman's voice filtered through the empty house, seemingly bouncing back and echoing, it was so quite for some reason, but the younger woman didn't seem to mind, she was enjoying the look on her older sister's face. "That means you've **done** it, right?" The woman grinned darkly, wanting details.

The light tinge of pink spread a crossed her cheeks as Tsuyahra tried to best to duck her head like she was ashamed. It never ceased to fail that her sister would made this situation awkward. At first, she had told Kayla over the phone, and Kankuro happened to be next to her apparently.

She had dropped the phone, squealed like a mad woman and started blabbering a bunch of things until it finally registered in his head that indeed, his younger anti-social practically homicidal little brother was getting married to his wife's 'sister'. Which, him being Kankuro got ideas for threesomes, even if she did belong to Gaara.

Tsuyahra started to pick at her fingernails, trying to calm the raging blush down. So what Gaara asked her to marry him? It was just something that... well… bound them together until one of them died – God forbid. Though, just the thought of being with him made her feel extremely happy, like she was one of those blonde females in grade 9, squealing and jumping up and down with her friends. Thank god she didn't have that many.

But, the whole marriage thing confused her – only after she was kidnapped he asked. Was it because he was fearful something was going to happen? Or, she was going to be swept away by another man? Jealousy? She sighed and rubbed her forehead, all this thinking was starting to make her head hurt, and from the injury before, it wasn't really helping her healing process.

"N-no… we haven't **done** it you horny woman." She sighed again, and crossed her arms on the table in front of her, letting her chin rest on her elbow. "Do you think he just asked because something would happen to me? I mean; look at all the shit I go through since I've met him. Darious – you're fault; mind you – Zhurma, getting kidnapped. I know I'm just a burden on him, I can see it in his eyes."

Kayla gave her a sympathetic look and shrugged her shoulders, bringing the warm cup of tea to her lips and taking a sip. "Well… Maybe you should ask him? As hard as it may be, you don't really know his true intentions. I mean, he asked you to marry him in **bed**. I would be worried."

Tsuyahra glared lightly at her. "Are you accusing him of something? So what if he proposed to me in bed? I honestly wouldn't be able to see him bringing me to a restaurant and get on one knee and ask me to marry him in front of people."

"True – but that's what Kankuro did—"

"Yes, Kankuro did that, a completely different person. He's a horn dog too, obviously. Sorry if my fiancé doesn't live up to the 'normal' man's reputation of getting on a knee and proposing. Just because they're brothers doesn't mean they are going to do the same things."

This was getting old, for the last hour she was trying to compare Gaara to Kankuro, two completely different people. She always seemed to be the one who wanted 'story-book' relationship. She guessed that was what was happening with her now; But Tsuyahra knew that it would probably turn out bad. The way Kankuro looked at her every time she stepped foot in this house, well, it worried her.

"Kayla, honestly you're starting to worry me. What is with you lately? You're all… happy and you're acting like you have everything in the world, when you obviously don't." She motioned to the kitchen they were in; it was actually pretty ratted down, and small like a trailer.

She sighed and put her cup down on the table, her blue eyes saddening and dropping their guard. Looking up at her sister she sniffled lightly, tears brimming her eyes. At this Tsuyahra immediately got up and walked over to her, wrapping and arm around her shoulders.

"What's wrong?" Kayla went to open her mouth but closed it, as if she wasn't ready to say what she wanted to. Tsuyahra squeezed her shoulders lightly. "It's alright Kayla, what's wrong?"

She took a deep breath in, and exhaled slowly and shaky. "Kankuro… I… I think he's cheating on me, yahra-chan…" She paused, choking lightly on sobs. "I had a phone call… the other day and there was a woman looking for him. She said it was 'important' a meeting of some sort, and that he needed to be there as soon as he could. Me; thinking it was his work, told him to go. He didn't come home until 11 last night and he smelt like a woman's perfume and there was lipstick on his neck." She broke down, collapsing out of the chair and onto the floor, Tsuyahra following quickly so she didn't hurt herself.

Tsuyahra bit her lip lightly, holding the crying woman in her arms. It didn't really surprise her, but it pissed her off though. She hated seeing her younger sister crying because of something some man did to her. She narrowed her eyes, her hands gripping Kayla's arms tightly, but not enough to hurt her. "Kayla, I want you to go stay with your parents for a couple of days, alright?"

"W-why…?" She hiccupped lightly, looking at her. Tsuyahra just smiled lightly.

"You need a vacation out in the country, so why not take it now? Your on break for your work, aren't you?" She paused for a moment. "Don't bring Kankuro though, just you and your parents. God knows you haven't seen them in a while."

Kayla nodded lightly, wiping her eyes and slowly standing up, going into her room and started to pack. Tsuyahra stood up slowly and looked around the kitchen, and sighed. Something had to be up, right? The way Kankuro acted was, well, creepy. Guess she just had to do some investigation…

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"Gaara open the door!" Tsuyahra stood outside the bathroom door, with little to no respect to what he was wearing, or, not wearing in the bathroom.

"What do you want, Tsuyahra." The door opened quickly, causing her hair to practically fly around and in her face. She took notice in what he was wearing, which was just a towel over his waist, hair drenched from the shower.

"I has a problem." She smiled lightly, and then noticed the dead-panned look on Gaara's face and her smile turned into a grin, before laughing lightly.

"It couldn't wait?"

"Not really. Well… whenever you're… Ahem, dressed, I'll be in the living room." She waved and walked towards the living room, leaving Gaara to stand in the bathroom watching her walk away.

When he was dressed and whatnot, he walked into the living room, seeing Tsuyahra taking up the whole couch by sprawling a crossed it. Crossing his arms over his chest, his jade eyes narrowed slightly at the t.v., before his eyes shifted to his soon-to-be-wife.

"Now, woman, what was so important?"

She jumped and fell off the couch, catching herself easily and standing up, as if nothing happened and brushed her hands off on her black shirt. "Well! You see, uh…" The look she was getting told her to hurry up. "Okay, do you think Kankuro would cheat on Kayla?"

Gaara moved around to the couch and sat down, eyeing her quietly. He was fairly sure Kankuro wouldn't cheat on Kayla, but he did fool around with a lot of women when they were all younger. He could faintly remember him bringing home six or seven women home a week; and they would be gone the next morning, which only came to one conclusion.

But, lately, he noticed that he had been hanging around with one of the women at the office who was friends with Natasha, so that probably meant she was a whore as well, trying to get into Kankuro's pants – and Kankuro being a dunce is falling for it. Unless there was something completely different going on. Shrugging his shoulders lightly, he leaned back into the couch, and grabbed the remote flicking through the channels.

"Gaara, answer me."

His eyes shifted towards her, and again, he shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not his babysitter, so I don't watch him."

"You're an ass." That was a first. She had never called him names or anything, and frankly it shocked him – but he didn't show it, just narrowed his eyes at her lightly.

"I need to know this, alright?" She sat down on the couch, putting her hands underneath her thighs and stared at the TV, but didn't pay attention to it. "I hate seeing her sad, she cried in my arms today, she's worried he's cheating on her; and if he is, I'm going to beat him into the ground myself. If he hurts her…" she left the threat hanging in the air, leading to anything that could happened, and it made Gaara smirk lightly.

He knew she could fight, and she could probably go on her word, like she had done when they had first met and she attacked Zhurma violently. Images of what happened went through his mind like a slideshow, and shortly everything went quiet.

Tsuyahra finally sighed to break the silence and leaned back in the chair, moving slightly so that she could wrap her arms around Gaara and use him as a pillow. Closing her eyes she listened to his heartbeat and was slowly starting to fall asleep… until he spoke.

"When I was younger, my father abused me."

Her eyes snapped opened and she sat up, pulling her head back so she could look at Gaara, but he refused to look at her. She bit her lip and nodded her head, silently telling him to go on.

"When I was born, I had killed my mother. She died a few minutes after giving birth to me. Ever since that day my father had loathed me, and ever since I could walk, he beat me down." He paused, eyes narrowing darkly, as if he was remembering his past. "When I went to school, I was the social outcast, everyone tried to pick fights with me, and when they did I kicked their asses. I put some people in the hospital. I killed a person."

He closed his eyes for a moment, and opened them again, eyes looking over the TV, big bold red letters flashing a crossed the screen. Apparently some breaking news somewhere. "I was kicked out of school when I was 13, officially declared as a hazard to the kids, and ever since then I was thrown into my fathers business because the bastard died." His face showed no emotion at all, his eyes blocked from hers.

She looked down, hating the silence right now. Grasping his hand in hers, she entwined their fingers and he squeezed her hand lightly, before looking at her.

"There is a lot more than just that. But I don't want you to hear what I've done. Do you still love a murderer?"

She looked directly at him, and then she smiled lightly. "You're Gaara to me, and that's all that matters. I love you no matter what you've done, or what's happened in the past." She laughed lightly, and he gave her a look, asking why she was laughing. "This is totally cheesy, I'm sorry Gaara." She wrapped her arms back around him again, only to feel him pull her into his lap; her head moving from resting on his chest to the crook of his neck.

"I love you, Gaara." She tightened her grip lightly.

"I love you too, Tsuyahra…"

"So, you wanna be an investigator for me, for a couple of weeks?" Tsuyahra looked up and smiled softly, in which Gaara only sighed.

"I suppose; but I'm not spending most of my time on the issue."

She nodded her head. "Alright, as long as you can get something."

She looked towards the tv screen and sighed softly. This little 'problem' was probably going to be a hassle to deal with.

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R i d 3 r: hooooooooooooooooooly shit! How long has it been? And FINALLY! I've started this again. I've been really busy, so I couldn't write any chapters; that and I completely lost any inspiration for writing any of my stories. So, this chapter, I think seems a little dragged out, don't you think? Ah well, at least I wrote something ne? Anyways, I LOVE reviews, they make me write faster… so… review! I demand it!

Oh, and to answer Joey's-mine's question it's like 'Sue-yah-hair-ah' or something along the lines XD pretty bad, isn't it? Can't pronounce my own Character's name.


	20. Chapter 20

**Lithium**

**Chapter 20**

"**You should really pay attention to your surroundings. They become very dangerous when you least expect it."**

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"Honestly Kayla, how many times do I have to tell you – **No**!"

"But... But Yahra-chaaan! You have to, please!"

"Kayla, I'm going to come out there and beat you. I swear to God..."

It had been like this for the past twenty minutes, the two women arguing over the phone. Kayla's responses were muffled but they were still auditable even where he was sitting from a crossed the table. Gaara could've sworn that Tsuyahra was going to explode anytime now. They had been arguing over her going out into the country to visit her sister's family. Apparently the parents hadn't seen their 'adoptive' child in years, and yet no matter how many times she said no, Kayla was still persistent.

Gaara sighed softly, bringing his hand up to his forehead, his fingers brushing against his tattoo as his jade eyes slowly shifted up from the table to Tsuyahra. It had been a little over a month since Tsuyahra had come home asking him to pry into his older brother's privacy, to try and pin-point what was going on in his and Kayla's relationship. Needless to say, he didn't do anything of the sort. He was a very busy man now, with his company now starting to get the booming business that they needed.

"Then that'll be awesome! You can come see them, you know they miss you!" Kayla's voice took on a higher pitch, more for excitement than anything; apparently she pretended to not hear that she was going to beat her down.

"Kayla..." Tsuyahra had her eyes closed, her hand gripping the telephone tight enough that her knuckles started to turn white, "I am **not **coming out there! I have things to do right now; I can't just up-and-leave like you can. I need to find something that'll help me with my writing!"

Tsuyahra's eyes slowly opened, and her hand loosened its grip on the phone; she had been so exhausted from just getting back from a CD promotion over in the states, and needless to say she was still very jet-lagged from the time difference. Licking her lips she finally leaned back in the chair and let her head fall back a bit, her long hair falling over the chair and hang just above the floor.

"Seriously though, please Yahra-chan? They really do miss you, and I haven't seen you in a month. You could bring Gaara with you too, you know," She was trying so hard, her voice now pleading, trying to get down to Tsuyahra's heart so she would give up.

And she sighed softly, lifting her head and looking at Gaara. The look in his eyes told her he was going to use this to his advantage. The glint in his eyes – the mischievousness that she rarely ever saw from him... The bastard was planning something, and like slow-motion she watched as he lowered his hand to the table and start opening his mouth.

"Gaara Sabaku, don't you **dare** say anything, I swear to God I will jump over this table and beat the hell out of you," Her eyes narrowed dangerously, her voice taking on such a tone that she was trying to be as serious as possible, but with his lips curving into a smirk. He was going to do it, and he obviously didn't fear the wrath of the woman in front of him.

"I'm sure Kayla's parents would appreciate seeing you again, Tsuyahra," His voice, it was thick with amusement; it seemed to dance around in her brain, stabbing it over and over. It wasn't long until she heard a scream from the phone and she had to drop it onto the table so her ear would stop ringing from the sudden outburst.

With the phone now out of her hand, and Kayla thoroughly distracted by Gaara pretty much saying they were going to go, she wasn't going to back down on what she had just said to him seconds earlier. Pushing the chair out from underneath her with the back of her knee's she stared him down, her tri-coloured eyes glinting with such evil that even Gaara's eyes widened ever so slightly before the smirk returned to his lips. It was like a challenge.

"Whoo-hoo! Mooom! Tsuyahra's coming to visit and she's bringing her fiancé too!" Kayla's voice was more muffled now that the phone was on the table and she was yelling away from the phone; but even though she was yelling the two in the kitchen couldn't hear her. For you see, Tsuyahra had decided to grab the table and flip it over so that it would hit Gaara in the face, and in the midst of the table flipping into the air, Gaara had effectively moved out of the way when the heavy table hit and crushed his chair. Standing there, the two of them were having a death-match by staring each other down.

Needless to say, Tsuyahra was losing – and she was losing very badly, and when she realized this she smiled sheepishly and laughed lightly, trying to ease the situation; but nothing was happening. Slowly, Gaara took two steps towards her, towering over her like some giant and she felt so small compared to him now that she realized it.

"Heh-heh... I love you Gaara," She smiled again, taking a step back from her spot as he took another, his eyes narrowing more. Slowly, he started to lower himself towards her, before his hand reached out and grabbed the phone and putting it to his ear,

"We'll be there tomorrow. She'll call you later," He didn't allow Kayla to get another word in before pressing the 'end' button on the phone and putting it on the counter that was behind him.

It was very, very uncomfortable when he turned back to face her with a dark grin on his face; and her first instinct? Well, it was simple – She booked it out of the kitchen... well, tried to at least. Having forgot that the chair she had just pushed back with her knee's had actually fallen only a couple inches behind her, and her turning around with the intention to full-out sprint it around the house, she had successfully tripped and landed on the chair, breaking one of the legs as she went down.

The first thing that registered in her head as she fell and broke a chair leg was pain, pain in her right wrist. Hissing lightly, she rolled off the chair and onto the ground on her back, cradling her arm against her chest. Apparently it was very misty in the room, but it cleared when she felt something wet slide down her cheek and Gaara was instantly in her view, crouched down beside her. He looked worried but he was also trying to hold back a laugh.

"Ow... What the hell?" She blinked a couple of times and Gaara shook his head, grabbing behind her shoulders and pulling her into a sitting position. Finally it hit her and she slowly turned her head to look at the chair and she sighed, lowering her head in embarrassment.

"Are you alright, Tsuyahra? You should've known the chair was there."

Was he mocking her? She raised her head and looked at him, eyes narrowed. "Shut up! I forgot about it... Ow, my wrist really hurts though,"

"Probably, here," Gaara reached out and took her hand in his, turning it various ways only to have her hiss. His fingers slid from her hand to her wrist, pressing against the bone and she bit her lip to hold back the cry. "It's not broken, probably just strained. Idiot," He sighed softly, and pulled her to her feet.

"I am not an idiot. It's your fault." She was acting childish now, a slight pout forming on her lips. "I think I deserve something in compensation for what you did to me, you're an abuser!"

Gaara only responded with shaking his head and moving to grab the table and put it back in its place; and he already knew he had to go buy another set of chairs since they were both broken now. Suddenly, the phone started to ring and he raised his head to look at it, but Tsuyahra had already grabbed it and pressed 'talk'.

"Hello, Tsuyahra speaking." She continued to cradle her arm close to her chest, playing up the pain part as much as she possibly could to make her fiancé feel bad. Apparently it wasn't working much.

Gaara turned his head back to the table and as he finally set it up-right again, a loud crash echoed through the kitchen as a large red brick flew in through the window and onto the table, skidding off and landing on the ground, a small white paper tied around it. Gaara's first instinct was to look and see if there was anyone outside, but there was no one there – they had run off.

"...What?" Tsuyahra's voice came out breathless, causing Gaara's eyes to shift back towards her; the look on her face was that of horror. What was said? She swallowed slowly, her eyes shifting down to the brick, her hand shaking as she held the phone to her ear. Gaara took the indication and grabbed the brick, pulling the piece of paper off of it and opening it.

_**You think you can get away from us? We should have stopped and come after you when you got out of the van that they took you in; but because you harmed one of my boys...**_

_**Well, that just means we're going to kill you, Tsuyahra Yakuchi, as well as that man of yours, Gaara.**_

_**You won't be safe... and neither will your family be.**_

_**There isn't a place safe for you. No one is safe from us.**_

_**You will die.**_

_**And so will everyone you know.**_

_**Sayanora, Yahra-chan.**_

The letters were hand-written, in such a way that it was hard to read; but the meaning was true to the fear that suddenly resounded in his chest. His heart felt like it was going to explode. Slowly, his jade eyes shifted back to Tsuyahra, and there were tears in her eyes, teeth gritted tightly, she was trying so hard not to suddenly yell, or cry.

"Don't you dare touch her; you keep your hands off of her! I swear if you harm her, I will kill you!" Her voice caught him off guard; she was so cold.

Laughter filled the phone, causing Tsuyahra to shudder slightly. "Oh? You'll kill me? Are you sure about that?" The voice was male, and he started to laugh again, "Not before I kill her first,"

_**Click**_.

It was silent until the phone started beeping in her ear over and over. No...Not him. Why was it him, of all the people that it could have been... why? The phone dropped out of her hand and onto the floor, smashing into pieces, and slowly, her legs couldn't keep her up and she pressed against the counter before sliding to the ground.

"...Why?" Her voice sounded so broken, so distraught. The word kept echoing in her head as she tried to piece it together.

"_Kayla, honestly you're starting to worry me. What is with you lately? You're all… happy and you're acting like you have everything in the world, when you obviously don't." She motioned to the kitchen they were in; it was actually pretty ratted down, and small like a trailer._

_She sighed and put her cup down on the table, her blue eyes saddening and dropping their guard. Looking up at her sister she sniffled lightly, tears brimming her eyes. At this Tsuyahra immediately got up and walked over to her, wrapping and arm around her shoulders._

"_What's wrong?" Kayla went to open her mouth but closed it, as if she wasn't ready to say what she wanted to. Tsuyahra squeezed her shoulders lightly. "It's alright Kayla, what's wrong?"_

_She took a deep breath in, and exhaled slowly and shaky. "Kankuro… I… I think he's cheating on me, Yahra-chan…" She paused, choking lightly on sobs. "I had a phone call… the other day and there was a woman looking for him. She said it was 'important' a meeting of some sort, and that he needed to be there as soon as he could. Me; thinking it was his work, told him to go. He didn't come home until 11 last night and he smelt like a woman's perfume and there was lipstick on his neck." _

Gaara was by her side, trying to get her to get up and move out of the kitchen should they throw another brick through the window, but she wouldn't budge. Her hand slowly moved from its spot on the ground to grab his arm tightly. She wasn't looking at him; she stayed staring at the floor.

"You didn't look into Kankuro like I asked you too... did you?" Her voice sounded so small, so broken. All he could do was shake his head, wondering why she'd bring him up.

"Kankuro's going to kill her..." She paused, her hand gripping Gaara's arm tightly, her nails digging into his skin. "Kankuro and Natasha are going to kill her."

R i d 3 r: Sooo, how many of you hate me for not updating in what? Over a year? Yes, yes, BASH ME! DO EET! :D Yeah, I'm sorry guys. Work had been extremely time consuming – I had been promoted and I worked every day, it sucked so I never could get on writing this story. But, I demoted myself, so now it's all good! I'll have more time to update. And! I'm putting in random titles too. I find they can be fun.

Anyways, I hope this chapter is good for you guys. Finally getting the drama back into it.

If ya'll have any questions please ask, I highly appreciate it, and review please! It's been a while since I've wrote a chapter, I might have lost my edge.


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